Helghast March
by sirbob6
Summary: Alternate course of event in Killzone 3 where the Helghast are able to seek the revenge they desire. M for violence, strong language, and sexual reference.
1. Introduction

Disclaimer: I don't own Killzone; it is the property of Guerrilla Games and SCE

"Good day, my fellow Helghans, I am Jorhan Stahl. This is something of a rarity for me, because speeches are not my forte." Stahl began to slowly pace in front of the camera. "But honesty is, and I believe what I have to say today you'll find very... refreshing. My father and Visari, both great leaders, they built this country from nothing. Using sharp minds committed to our future, together, they built a nation. Visari gave us purpose and hope. My father's factories, they gave us the most powerful army the universe has ever known!"

"But our army has failed us. They have allowed themselves to become fat, lazy and careless! But that changes today! The time has come for some new fucking management. I know what this nation needs... and I will cut out this disease of compliance and subjugation." Captain Narville started to really worry. The two Helghast in front of him were starting to move toward the StA5X. '_Fuck!'_

"So, to honor Visari, tomorrow we launch the greatest military campaign in our history and to celebrate that... I will give you justice, revenge! And the death... of his killers!" One of the two Helghast picked up the gun in front of them and started to charge it up the Petrusite cannon. He was so terrified he didn't even notice the door in the back opening up and letting in four new soldiers. The gun quickly swung from his face to that of Chairman Stahl.

"What is the meaning of this?" Stahl screamed. The soldier ripped of the helmet to reveal Sgt. Sev Sevchenko. "You!"

"Yeah, m-"Before the ISA soldier could finish a bullet ripped through his skull, spraying the captive captain next to him in a shower of blood and chunks of brain and skull. The captain sat there in shock. _'What the fuck?'_

The Helghast next to him screamed out, "Sev!" and started to run out to him. He barely made it two steps before a knife plunged into him. He cried out as the knife continued to push him to the ground. The shock trooper wielding it stepped on his neck and looked over to the chairman.

"What should I do with him sir?" The trooper continued to apply more pressure as Rico screamed out in pain, blood gushing out of his wound.

"Tie him up with the captain." '_This just keeps getting better and better.'_ He looked back to the camera. "Sorry about that, the ISA are persistent if nothing else. I now would like to present you to all the fucker who personally murdered our great leader." He stepped over to the still bleeding body of Sev and picked up the bloody gun, wiping off some brain matter near the barrel's end.

"Now to prevent further complications I will personally avenge our Visari" He charged up the StA5X. The swirling green Petrusite formed at the end of the barrel. He released the trigger and watched in awe as the irradiated Petrusite swarmed around the bodies of Rico and Narville. They were lifted in the screaming as the weapon started to tear them apart. They both suddenly exploded, spraying a mist of blood everywhere. Chairman Stahl looked at the bloody clothes that were all that was left of the ISA soldiers. He just stood there and smiled._ 'Damn, that never gets old.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-

Author's Note: This is my first fan fic, so please be gentle. Reviews would be wonderful, good and bad. I will explain everything, introduce new characters, and add much more length in the next chapter. Expect a lot more action soon. It should be up in a couple of days. Also feel free to ask questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability.

-Sir Robert the VI, PhD


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Killzone, it is the property of Guerrilla Games and SCE

Sgt. Reuven Anielewicz considered himself a lucky man. He was lucky that he noticed the Chairman's speech was starting. He was lucky to get there in time. Most of all he was lucky that he had the honor to execute the most dangerous man formally alive.

As a member of the Echo squad he was part of the iron fist of Jorhan Stahl. As an elite shock trooper his job that day was to be the official executioner for Stahl's conference. It was one of the greatest honors in all of Helghan to be the one who executed the CO of Visari's murderers. He ended up personally put a 5.62 slug through the skull of Sev. A squad mate, Sasha, had the reward of stabbing and hurting the man who murdered our great Autarch.

This moment of glory could only last so long though.

"Congratulations Sgt. Anielewicz on your wonderful timing, now tell me, where the fuck were you!" the blood splattered chairman screamed. "How the hell did those two end up taking your place and almost ruining this whole event, let alone nearly killing me?"

"Uhh, sir, I believe they sabotaged the factory, sir, and I was assisting the cleanup… sir."

"Well then maybe you can make up for some of your incompetence and organize your squad, we are expecting the rest of the raiders soon."

"Yes sir, we won't let you down sir." Anielewicz scurried away with his tail between his legs. He now considered himself lucky that Stahl didn't toss him into a vat of irradiated Petrusite right then and there.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Reuven and Sasha ran down the hall to the barracks to find the rest of the squad. As he ran he couldn't help but stare at the women in front of him. _'If only…' _

Even under her long coat he could see her curvy body and her short red hair was visible under her garrison cap. Sasha Skorzeny was the most gorgeous person Reuven has seen outside of Vektan contraband hid under his bed. This was mainly because she was a Vektan herself, but she a diehard Helghan freedom fighter picked up during our failed invasion. It is rumored that she is a decedent of one of the original Helghast board members.

There was only one problem with this busty redhead, she is technically the most fucked up person anyone has seen. If you looked at her the wrong way you would wake up in a storm drain, skinned alive, wishing you were dead. _'At least this mask is good for something.' _The only sure fact about her past is that when the Helghast soldiers found her she was standing pool of blood from a dozen ISA soldiers that she killed with a knife. The soldiers took her back with them but she was quickly put in an asylum. However Stahl saw that her abilities were perfect for an advance shock trooper, so he went ahead and included her in his personal guard.

They arrived at their barracks. They quickly found Ludmila Kraminov tending to her rifle. "Mila, would you kindly hurry up, the ISA bastards will be here any second." The sergeant barked.

"As you wish." The sultry sniper rebuilt her modified StA-14 in less than twenty seconds. Dawning her mask the former social elite joined her squad mates.

"Pvt. Kraminov where is Szilard?" the demented shock trooper asked.

"Where do you think, he is at the range tending to his little whore." The private rolled her eyes behind her glowing mask. "Should I go grab him?"

"Quickly please, meet us at the loading ramp."

"As you wish." The curvy sniper saluted and trotted down the hall. Reuven looks over to Sasha, "We need to get the prisoners ready for the big show." They ran to the prisoner block, Reuven still staring at her gyrating hips.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ludmila arrived at the firing range a few minutes later. It took her all of two seconds to find the heavy she was looking for. In his hands was his little whore, a M327 grenade launcher that the former scientist modified to launch capsules of the wonderful green goo.

"Oye, Leo, hurry up the honorable sergeant demands our presence." The Leo Szilard fired one last shot down range at a cow he set up. It was quickly encapsulated in a swirling green mass before exploding into a bloody mist.

"The sincerity is just pouring from your seams." The heavy walked over to the sniper. "What is this about anyway?"

"It would appear that those ISA jackals that have been nipping at our ankles have finally decided to confront us." They were running down the hall as fast as a man in one hundred pounds of armor can. "Oye, lead ass, can you pick it up?"

"You know this weapon has a habit of going off randomly right?" Leo said between gasp. "God, I wish I had some adrenaline boosters left." He had forgotten to resupply his suits drug supply earlier that day. He clambered on as the sniper in front of him continued to make the occasional jeer.

The advanced and elite shock troopers had just finished suiting up the prisoners and sending them out when his other squad mates arrived. "Reporting for duty sir." The heavy struggled to speak between his gasp. "Anything you need us to do?"

"No private, you're good for right now, just sit back and enjoy the show."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Jammer was flying in toward the research facility. '_Shit, I hope Rico is okay' _"Okay boys, this is Raider 1, we are going in hot. You see a redeye, blast that son of a bitch." She picked up the Sta-62 minigun. _'Here we go.' _ The Intruder flew through the cloud bank and came into sight of the Helghast building.

"Okay boys the target is in sight. Go to the rear loading ramp, there should be only be a few batteries there. Lock and load." The group of Intruders rushed over the base, clearing the top by only a few feet and shattering some of the glass. _'I wonder who was the dumbass was that made the design choices.' _

They arrived at the loading ramps a minute later. The ground was swarming with standard infantry. All at once the six Intruders opened up. The Helghast below started to fall. A better term may be explode. When a minigun hits a man he is quickly gutted, limbs usually flying off. Jammer saw one of them drop the weapon in front of him and raise his hands. _'Dumbass' _She fired an extended burst at this soldier, causing his abdomen to burst blood as she slowly sawed him in half. The upper portion of the man waved his arms even when his legs were a few feet away. His arms stopped flailing a minute later. She smiled at her kill.

Jammer looked up to see that only two dozen or so Helghast were still standing, the rest were now painting the ground in a crimson red. "Okay boys, set them down." Raider 1 landed on a group of four Helghast that were trying to surrender. She picked up the M82 and jumped off as one was still screaming in pain. She ran over to him and curbed stomped his face in, blood painting her boots and the Intruder red. Satisfied with the crunch she then turned around and pumped five rounds into the face of a Helghast that was starting to run away. As the soldiers head was exploding, spraying the man next to her in a mix of red and white, the raider leader ran up to the man. She planted a solid kick in his chest, ribs cracking and causing him to fall onto a crate behind him. She then ran up and tried to plunge a knife into his chest. The man was able to stop the knife before she killed him but he was losing this struggle. "No, no, nononononono." The Helghast continued to plead as Jammer threw her whole body into the knife. "Jammer, noo-"

She had just plunged in the knife, blood still rhythmically spraying her face, when she realized what he had said. She stood there a few seconds staring at the redeye bastard that just screamed her name. She looked around to see that all the other Helghast were down. Seeing that it was safe she quickly ripped off the man's mask. She stood back in shock when she found herself looking at one of her own men. "What the fuck?" She stared for a minute before desperately trying to rub the blood off her face. She then checked the others. One after another they all were an ISA soldier. She ordered the other Raiders to do the same. They all found them to be ISA. She walked over to the man she cut in half, blood still dripping. She just stood over him crying when she realized she enjoyed killing this man.

She refused to move when the other raiders snapped out of their shock. Now low on ammo they turn to see the loading bay doors open. Through the darkness all the raiders could see was a sea of glaring crimson lights.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Authors note: Well, here you have it. Please review the story, any help would be appreciated. Also feel free to ask questions. I plan to get the next chapter up next Monday. Plan to see a lot more action. Sorry for the cliffhanger. On another note I am working on a Killzone/Left 4 Dead crossover. I could use a few ideas.

-Sir Robert the VI, PhD


	3. Chapter 2

The Raiders gaped in fear at their true enemy. The sea of red slowly marched out of the shadows, releasing a blood curdling chant. The ground was rhythmically beating under foot. The men who still had ammo open fired. Their shots wildly ricocheted off of the loading doors, not even causing the Helghast to flinch. Some desperate ISA picked up the scattered weapons from the false Helghast littering the ground. _Click, _looking at the weapon in their hands they found that they were not completely manufactured.

"Fuck this." A few made a mad dash to the Intruders. The aircraft lifted off without the majority of the men, they just stood there in awe at the angels of death in front of them. As Intruder was taking off an unseen grenade launcher fired a round at each of the Intruders, leaving a green trail instead of the usual red. The rounds hit their target and quickly encapsulated the aircraft in a swirling green substance. The men onboard screamed in pain as the substance slowly tore through them. After what seemed like years the men exploded into a burst of blood, causing the men on the ground to be showered by a light crimson drizzle. The aircraft followed suit, sending pieces of shrapnel everywhere. Most Raiders fell on their knees in defeat as their friends slowly rained down on them and the mass of Helghast in front of them marched in formation toward them.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_10 minutes earlier_

Jorhan Stahl looked at the scene playing out in front of him. From the observation window on the upper floor of the factory he was able to see the raiders destroy themselves. Smiling he turned to mastermind of the plan, Sgt. Anielewicz, "I must say sergeant I am thoroughly impressed, this more than makes up for your mishap earlier."

"Thank you sir, it is always a pleasure." He looked up to see one of the ISA prisoners get sawed in half by a circling Intruder. "I wonder how long it will take them to figure this out."

"I don't know but you better get ready, we don't want to be rude to our guest." Stahl started to walk away with the Commodore.

"Yes sir!" Reuven sketched a salute at the retreating chairman and looked over the rail at the loading docks where three platoons of guards were. The legion was in loose parade formation and was composed almost completely of standard infantry. The only ones that stood out was three diverse soldiers near the rear of the formation and an officer decked out in all white dress uniform in the front. _'The captain sure has a hand for theatric.'_ Reuven walked down the stairs and regrouped with the three odd soldiers out.

"Okay squad we have only a couple minutes before these bastards figure out what is happening. Load up and get in formation." He and the rest of the squad formed up with the three platoons that made up the counter-offensive. His squad was to act as advisors to the guards and make sure they don't fuck up too bad. He looked at Sasha who was releasing erotic moans at the massacre in front of her. He looked down to see her legs rubbing together in a so that her pelvic armor massaged her. _'Fucked up psycho is getting off to this shit.' _Taking his mind off of the psychopath next to him he looked over back at the fight. He saw that the ISA leader finally noticed that she was killing her own friends. The facility's guard captain, Leslie Groves, walked in front of the group.

"Hold off on the assault, let these ISA bastards suffer for a while." All the Helghast were enjoying the site. Quite a few laughed at the ISA's response to their actions. Captain Groves saw their leader go into shock, he quickly seized the opportunity. "Now is the time to crush the resistance, proceed in formation. Let's show these fuckers who is the superior race." Stahl's Legion cheered at this order.

As the platoons proceeded the ISA put up no resistance. Accepting their fate the vast majority just went down on their hands and knees and waited for the angels of death to take them away. The Helghast ranks marched forward slowly, some blood was still falling from the sky, adding to the already slick, crimson snow. As Groves took front he came across the first Raider. The soldier looked up in a defeated face as the captain fluidly pulled out his VC-8 and blasted the kneeling raider in the face. The pellets of buck shot completely tore off the soldiers head, splattering a man behind him with chunks of skull and blood that added to the crimson rain that speckled the Raider. Captain Groves didn't even break step. Wiping off some bits of gore off of the barrel the group continued to march forward. "To fucking easy."

Reuven noticed some of the ISA hiding behind the flaming remains of an Intruder. Not wanting to break formation raised the captain on the radio. "Captain, this is Sgt. Anielewicz, we have some tangos that are getting frisky." He raised his gun and executed a raider in front of him. "What should we do?" The Raider he just shot was covering his pants in blood. _'Shit, this will be a pain to clean'_

"Just keep marching," there was a sharp crack over the mic, "We can clear them out after the main sweep. Remember, our goal is to make them to wish they never came."

"Yes sir." He raised his rifle towards another target.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Jammer's body refused to move. _'How could I do this?'_ She ignored the sporadic blast behind her. _'You failure'_ The stomps of the enemy was growing loader. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a spray of blood explode forward, a helmet soon joined the fresh spray. _'How could I let this happen?' _ She heard the constant noise stop. _'Fucking do something!' _out of the silence was a lone step of footsteps approaching. A shadow grew over her. A voice sounded out,

"Goodbye Miss." She heard the gun rise behind her. '_ENOUGH!'_ She grabbed a blade like fragment of her Intruder next to her. Spinning around she impaled the captain in the leg. As the officer screamed out in pain she removed a machete from her jacket. "You fucking son of a bitch!" Jammer swung the blade, removing the officer's head. Blood streamed from the officer's neck as he slowly collapsed to the ground, the blood turning his white uniform crimson. She smiled at the blood now spraying her.

As the legion of Helghast stared in awe at their decapitated captain, Jammer ran to the remains of an Intruder. She hastily picked up a StA-62 and unleashed hell upon her foe. "Die you red eyed bastards!" The Helghast in front were ripped apart, turning the already bloody ramps into a complete blood bath. The Raiders who were hiding and those who were not executed yet took this opportunity and opened fire with weapons the found in a crate. The remaining Raiders were back in the fight.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Reuven watched the scene play out in front of him in awe. He simply stared at the captain as his corpse sprayed the ISA whore with blood. He snapped out of it quickly when the raiders opened fire. "Fuck! Everyone get to cover!" It was too late for the guards that were in the front, they were already decorating their brethren in additional blood. Reuven slid behind a concrete barrier, firing on an ISA running to cover. The burst from his StA-3 made short work of the man, ripping off his legs. The Raider continued to desperately crawl toward cover, blood spewing from his lower half. The sergeant looked around for his squad mates. Reuven then saw the disarray of the guards. Seeing no one take control he assumed leadership. "1st Platoon, regroup at the entrance and provide fire support. 2nd Platoon, regroup at the warehouses and flank their right. 3rd Platoon your on me." The groups of guards started to move to their new positions. _'I guess these factory guards aren't completely useless.' _Reuven saw movement from the corner of his eye. Raising his LMG he swung towards the movement and saw nothing. "Ludmila, how many fucking times have I told you not to do that?"

"At this point seventy-two, but who's counting?" A shape quickly appeared a couple degrees away from where Reuven was aiming. Raising here StA-14 she fired two shots in rapid succession. Down range Reuven saw what he thought was a snow bank explode into a mass of red. "Does it really matter?" The sniper said in her ever sarcastic voice.

"You will kill yourself one of these times. Anyways I want you to go with 1st Platoon and provide fire support." Reuven rose from cover to return fire. "You got that?"

"As you wish." The sniper gave salute as she went invisible. Reuven radioed the rest of Echo Squad, "Echo, meet me at the bottom of the ramp." By the time he arrived a heavy and blood soaked shock trooper were already there with the remains of 3rd Platoon. "Okay listen up, we are going to do a head on assault. When 2nd Platoon hits from the side we make our way through the warehouses and hit them hard." The guards nodded in agreement. One of them suddenly slouched over. A buddy pulled him forward exposing what the lungs look like from behind. "You five will follow Sasha and I through the first warehouse, the rest follow Leo through the second one. Understood?"

"Yes, sir" The group moved to the warehouse

Reuven followed Sasha to the side of the door. Sasha tossed in one of her smoke grenades. When she heard coughing she moved in. With her HUD she could see the outline of three Raiders staggering around. Moving quickly yet silently she ran to the first. Pulling out her knife Sasha dove at the soldier. Grabbing his arm she swung in behind her back. Before he could make a sound he was on the ground with his neck shooting blood and his abdomen leaking intestines. The only sound her attack made was a wet thud. This was enough for the two remaining soldiers to hear. They were quickly within arm's reach of each other and shooting though the swirling mist at the sound. _'Too late' _Sasha's red eyes appeared behind them. She leaped. Her legs snaked around the neck one of the raiders, in chorus she reached out for the others neck. As she grasped the neck she brought out her knife and quickly cutting open his jugular. As he bled out on her she gave a quick twist to her legs, snapping the soldier's neck with a satisfying crunch. She hopped off of the two before he hit the floor. Covered in a fresh, dripping coat of red she walked back to the sergeant as the swirling grey screen she hid in dissipated. She saluted, sending little droplets of blood flying from her sleeve.

"We are clear, sir."

"Good job and in record time, forty-five seconds is rather impressive." The other Helghast troops began moving forward through the door and took cover behind crates, firing at the Raiders

"It was a pleasure." She ran her hand through her short red hair, combing out bits of skin and guts.

"That's what I was afraid of." Reuven looked to his left at the second half of 3rd Platoon. Leo had just kicked open the door and unleashed hell on whoever was inside.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Leo Szilard was having almost as much fun as his night with Ludmila. The only problem now was the lack of his much needed drugs; in this case he needed more synthesized EPI, NRE, Enkephalin, and maybe Endorphin for good measure. He kicked open the door to the warehouse. As the door flew forward he saw six raiders searching for weapons. They opened fire upon the heavy as he slowly raised his precious grenade launcher. As the bullet ricochet off of his armor he unleashed green hell upon them. He stared as the green flash that was soon followed by the burst of blood, painting the walls the crimson, matching the paint that covered most of the loading dock. _'This never gets fucking old. Sure as hell beats sitting in the lab.' _ He reloaded his weapon as the guards flowed in the room. One slipped in a pool of blood, sending him forward on his ass knocking over two more guards. _'Dumbass' _Laughing the former scientist reached for another round. He noticed that there was only three left on his belt. _'Fuck, better end this quickly.' _

He walked forward into a hail of lead. He saw that there was only fifteen ISA soldiers remained. They were being hit on three sides and had a hail of sniper fire coming in from 1st Platoon. There was only one thing holding up their eminent death. They had four StA-62 set up and were holding the advancing Helghast at bay. _'Show time' _He raised his 'little whore' and began firing at the emplaced miniguns. The first emplacement exploded in a mix of green and red. _'One' _He fired off two more round. _'Two, Three' _He began aiming at the fourth one when it swung toward him. He was instantly engulfed in a hail of lead. The heavy staggered back as the bullets started to puncture the pressurized tanks on his neck. _'FUCK!' _The other Raiders noticed the effect and unleashed hell on the retreating heavy. The O2 tank started to catch fire. _'MOTHERFUCKERS!' _The heavy retreated to the safety of the ware house well firing his grenade launcher blindly. He raced against time to get the armor off. _'If the tanks go I will be incinerated at 350 psi and at a temperature of 1,500 C. At those settings it would be more effective than a cremat- FUCK!' _The former scientist started to hate his previous occupations knowledge. He motioned to two guards near him, "Help me get out of this off before it kills us!" The three men raced to get off the flaming helmet. Leo panicked when he saw flames through his eyepieces. _'I am so fucked.' _Somehow the helmet was removed in time.

Not enough to be unharmed though. The guard tasked with carrying it away was engulfed in flame, incinerated instantly. The second was not so lucky, his fur trimmed suit caught fire. He ran in screaming pain as he slowly burned. A guard further away had the mercy to put him down with a slug to the head. Leo was the furthest away but still was injured. Unable to turn off the oxygen supply coming in from the lower portion of his suit he had a stream of fire shoot directly into his face. I slowly ate away at the left side of his head.

Ludmila watched in horror as her friend was slowly cooked. She sighted in on the gunner who had done this. _'You motherfucking bastard!' _She fired her first shot into the Raider's shoulder, knocking him away from the gun. The gunner staggered into the open as blood gushed from his wound. The sniper put a round into the man's right knee. The lower portion of the man's right leg was blown off by the round. He fell onto the stub as his other leg slid out from under him. Pvt. Kraminov then put a round into his other shoulder, this time blowing his arm clean off, well almost; it hung there by a tendon as blood gushed out. She then pumped round after round into the man's gut till she heard the rifle clicking. She continued to pull the trigger to no avail as the man in her scope rapidly bled from his eight wounds. The man fell over as the color faded from his face.

She snapped out of her rage and switched on her cloak and ran to her downed friend. By the time she arrived the fire stopped, either a guard put it out or the tanks ran dry. She looked to the scorched face of her comrade. _'Probably ran out of fuel judging by the damage.'_ She started to care for her injured friend. Most of the damage was on the left side of his neck and lower face. She tried to wipe away some residue from the burn, as she did the skin started to peel off. _'Fuck!' _The sniper started to worry; she called for a medic as she added some gauze to the wound. The medic rushed in and slid to the two squad mates.

"What happens to be your pro-" He saw the peeling face of Leo. "Fuck, in my back pocket is some Insta-Heal, it is a white spray can." The sniper rummaged through the medics pack as the medic started to inspect the wounds. "Lucky bastard, any longer and it would have cooked his arteries." The sniper passed the spray to the medic. "Thanks." The medic removed the cap and begun to spray the can of skin stem cells on the wound. The cream colored substance started to foam as it went to work. The medic started to apply a new layer of gauze to the wound. Turning to Ludmila, "He should be fine in a couple of days. He will only get some minor scars around the neck and cheek area. Other than that he will be as good as new."

"Thank Visari, I'll take him back to the medical area for further treatment" Ludmila started to drag her friend with her.

"No need ma'am, I can do it. Besides I need more supplies, we have had more casualties than expected." The medic took the scientist from the sniper.

"Thank you so much." Ludmila gave her unconscious friend one last look before returning to the warehouse door. _'You bastards better be ready for hell' _She raised her scope and became an angel of death again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Reuven and Sasha were progressively advancing. Sasha ran to new cover as Reuven opened fire. She ducked behind the crate before rising up and firing on the Raider in front of her with her StA-11. The soldier staggered back as bullet after bullet tore through their chest. The puffs of blood burst out his back ceased and he fell onto the crimson snow. Reuven finished moving to cover. Sasha yelled "Cover" as she vaulted over the crate. She rolled behind a derelict remain of an Intruder well Reuven blindly fired his LMG at the enemy positions. She peeked out and opened fire at a Raider that was nearly over top her. Aiming up the force of the submachine gun sent the soldier flying as the blood dripped on Sasha. _'Mmmm….' _Putting aside her fucked up fantasy she made a dash for a better area for cover. As she ran an enemy stepped out in front of her. She quickly dropped down and slide tackled the foe. The Raider fell flat on his face, before they could get up Sasha was back up on her feet. She quickly spun around and stomped her boot down on the soldier's neck. Content with her work she continued on to her cover; looking up she saw no more foes. She motioned for the rest of the platoon to catch up. As they approached she readjusted her garrison cap, blood drizzling from one of its seams. Reuven caught up,

"Sergeant, I think that is the last of them, sir."

"Good work. 2nd Platoon, search the Raiders, execute all but their leader." The platoon to his left began to search the remains of the ISA. "1st and 3rd Platoon, handle the casualties." At the order the troops cautiously broke cover, searching the bodies. The sergeant radioed Ludmila, "Pvt. Kraminov, what is the status of Pvt. Szilard?"

"He is going to make it, but he will be out for a day or two." The sniper over the radio spoke with worry for the first. _'This is really fucking with her.'_

"Thanks for the update. Why don't you run down to the lab and check him." The sergeant bent down to pick up a bloody M4 off a Raider.

"Thank you so much, sir." _'Damn she is actually sincere, that's a first. I wonder if she and L-' _Before the sergeant could ask further a new call came over the radio.

"Sergeant Anielewicz, we found her." The Reuven dropped a M4 he was picking up as a trophy and sprinted to the soldier. _'We got the bitch.' _

He quickly arrived at the scene. The Raider's newest leader was pinned to the ground by the leg of one of the guards. She spat out blood, "Get off of me you goddamn Hig."

The guard looked to the sergeant, "What are your orders, sir?" The guard applied slightly more pressure when Jammer tried to move, causing her to scream.

"Give her to me; we have special plans for her." The guard used a zip-tie to secure her hands. He lifted her up with one hand and shoved her over to Reuven.

"What are you going to do with me, use that damn green shit?" Jammer had almost no fear in her eyes when he started to march her back to the complex.

"Oh no miss, that would be too painless. As I said we have special plans for you." As he reached the door he met up with Sasha. "I would like you to meet Sasha Skorzeny, she is a Vektan like yourself but much prettier. Sasha also has pledged herself to Helghan. She's going to be your friend for the next few days." Sasha removed her mask from her face so Jammer could see it. Blood started to run down her previously clean skin. Sasha stared into the eyes of Jammer and started to grin. She turned to Reuven,

"It will be an upmost pleasure sir." Reapplying her mask she continued to smile all the way to a stark white room with a single bare metal chair in the middle with ankle and wrist straps. Reuven tossed Jammer to the floor as Sasha walked in. Jammer turned around and stared at him; her eyes were now that of one whom meeting with Death. Closing the metal door as he exited, he said one last thing,

"You two have fun." As Reuven slowly walked away her could hear the Raider screams through the three inches of solid steel that made up the door to the "interrogation" room. He smiled behind his mask when Sasha's laughs and moans rose above the wails.

Walking away from the "interrogation" he returned to the loading dock's doors to oversee cleanup. At this point there was a mass of ISA remains stacked like firewood, extending over fifty feet. Some Helghast were given the task to clean off all the blood from the ground and walls. This task was near impossible. As far as he could see everything was painted crimson and the craters in the ground were now lakes of blood. _'Note to self, don't let Sasha away from here.' _Reuven started to daydream about his friend bathing, minus the blood. As he mentally stripped her a voice approached from behind, "Good show sergeant." He instantly recognized the voice.

"Thank you Chairman." He snapped a salute at the elder Helghast who was looking over at the soon to be burned firewood. The chairman turned his attention away from the defeated enemy and focused on Reuven.

"Your performance was rather impressive. Seventy eight dead ISA with a total of twenty three dead guards and a now decapitated guard captain." The chairman returned his gaze to the row of firewood, watching a couple guards dumping fuel on them. "Your actions are what I'd expect from a new Legion captain." Reuven quickly turned his red eyes to the Chairman.

"Captain?"

"Of course, I need a new captain and you seem to know what you are doing. I have already assigned you a new company of converted soldiers to your command." The two men watched a guard approach the firewood with a lit flare.

"Sorry to ask sir but what do you mean by converted soldier." A small flame started on one end of the row.

"Didn't someone tell you? You are talking with the chairman of the new Helghast state." Stahl pulled out his video device. He handed over the device to Reuven. "As you can see the great people of Helghan have selected a new leader. As we speak they are rioting against the old administration and joining our legion." The firewood was quickly enveloped in a bright flame as bellowing black smoke rose. "The obsolete senate is trying to keep the people down with the great army of Helghan." Stahl walked closer to the pyre.

"By their incompetence they believe the men and woman of Helghan will simply bow to them. They don't know how wrong they are." Reuven scanned though the images on the pad, seeing riots and streets of discarded triad arm bands. "So far the vast majority of the army has joined us along with the majority of the officer pool. The only holdouts are the most loyal parts of the Navy and their wonderful Admiral." Reuven looked up from the devise into the eyes of the chairman. He could see the enemy burning in them.

"Now is our time to restore our greatness." As he finished speaking an armada of Stahl Arms cruisers appeared. On them there was the Stahl's triangle, beneath it were the words 'Galactic Helghast Republic'

"Welcome to the new Helghan."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Author's Note: Sorry about the length, I wanted to finish the fight and set up for the next chapter. I'd love it if you could review the chapter and fell free to ask questions. I do hope to continue the weekly update so expect Ch. 3 next weekend. I am also debating wither to make the new Helghast state a democracy or not so any input would help.

-Sir Robert the VI, PhD


	4. Chapter 3

**Planet Vekta**

**New South Wales**

**May 18, 2360**

**1530 Hours**

Colonel Cordell Embry watched the video from Helghan. On Vekta the new ISA government has clamped down on all information, shutting down the internet and jamming all frequencies from the Helghast nation. Even with these precautions video and news still trickled in from the estranged planet. Cordell was fascinated by what was happening. His former employer was evidently taking charge.

The colonel was the liaison of Stahl for the Third Army of Helghan. After the invasion of Vekta turned to shit and all major COs were killed he received command of the remains of the once great army. Embry had turned the former army of shock troopers into the finest guerilla force in the universe. He motioned his lieutenant, George Schultz. "Oye Schultz, check this out. We appear to have a new leader."

"Wait… what?" The awaken lieutenant eyes were still groggy. The guerilla forces had done away with their goggles long ago, using them only during their night raids.

"You heard me; Stahl appears to vying for control. I guess this confirms that Visari is dead." Since the invasion rumors have spread that their Autarch was murdered but the emergency military government set up by the UCN denied everything. The lieutenant grabbed the video player from Embry.

"Let me see." They both were watching when a snowghast grabbed a bizarre looking gun and aimed it at a man in orange. "Fuck!" Before their eyes a wave of violence played out involving exploding heads, knives and sprays of blood. "What just happened?"

"I don't know, just shut up." As he spoke a redheaded shock trooper tied up the living intruder and tossed him over with the man in orange. He turned to his friend, "Wouldn't mind her tying me up." The lieutenant simply sighed and firmly planted his face into his hand. The lieutenant raised his head just in time to see the proper execution. The chairman raised the bloody gun up and aimed it at the prisoners. "Holy Shit!" The two officers stared in awe when the small gun caused the two men to exploded covering the camera and chairman in blood. The chairman wiped off the camera before talking. However, before the chairman could get into the rest of his speech, the screen turned blue and the round emblem of the ISA appeared. "ISA must have finally noticed." The colonel set down the device. "You know what this means though?" The colonel turned to his lieutenant. Before the officer could answer the colonel answered. "We are retaking Vekta."

The colonel got up and exited the tent he was in. As he walked out he saw the sea of tents in the underground labyrinth that was their current base. He walked to the command tent and pulled out a folder from one of the cabinets. On it was an almost complete triangle and the words 'Operation Werwolf'. He scrolled through the documents before turning to the map at the back of the tent. "To make our reinvasion successful we need to take these key defense batteries. Without them the ISA bastards won't be able to do shit against our fleet. Hopefully they won't interpret our actions as invasion preparations." He put pins on multiple locations on a map. "Now once we knock out those instillations we can proceed and cause further unrest in the cities. With the current riots and the help of our local friends we might get lucky and cause a revolt." The colonel loosened the scarf around his neck. "Get on the radio with the ICSA and get them here now. We only have two weeks till our friends arrive."

"Yes sir." The bewildered lieutenant saluted and ran out of the tent. Embry turned back to the large map at the back of the tent. _'We are finally going home.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Helghan**

**Stahl Arms Southern Research Facility**

**May 19, 2360**

**1645 Hours**

"Good to see you back Leo." Reuven was walking with his squad to R&D. "It is amazing to what the doctors can do these days." Leo started to rub the left side of his head. The skin was a tender pink, a far cry from pale skin of the rest of the man's face. The only mark of the injury from the day before was a branching tree of scars along his neck that extended into his face.

"Not bad for a burn victim, eh?" Leo reapplied his mask, covering up his ice-blue eyes. He then rubbed the left side of his scalp. "Sorta disappointing the spray doesn't work on hair, I miss my old hair." All there were was just charred stubbles on the left side of his head; on the other the freshly shaved stubbles of his steely blonde hair.

"Well at least you shaved it. That half shaved and half long look made you look like some ISA punk. Then again you did pay an obscene amount of money for the haircut." Ludmila grabbed onto Sasha. "You could have always let Pvt. Skorzeny shave it off with her knife."

Sasha quickly escaped Ludmila's grasp. "Hell no! First it is lieutenant now. Second I would never defile my knife with such primitive uses."

The private reattached herself to Sasha. "So slitting ISA throats is not primitive?"

"…point taken."

"Call me crazy but I do not want her blade anywhere near me." Leo put on his helmet, making sure his straps were extra tight. "By the way sir, why are going down to R&D?"

"Stahl is in the process of upgrading all his new soldiers and he needs us for some mission later today, so we are going to be the test subjects for all the new gear." The squad now entered the lab. "Besides, the lab team was wondering what happened to their old member."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As they entered one of the lab technicians turned around to get them. "Oye, Leo is that you?" He walked over to the scarred scientist. "Pleasure to see you again. Anyways I bet you are here for your new toys. Come with me." The squad and walked over to a series of gun filled racks and armor covered tables. "As you can see we have been busy here at the labs." He looks over to Reuven, "I am assuming that you are Captain Anielewicz."

"You'd be correct."

The scientist started to pick up random pieces of armor. "This here suit will be yours. As with the majority of the armor your squad will wear it is based off of the HAZMAT Trooper platform." He lifted up what Reuven assumes is the legs. They appeared to have some sort of motor at the joint. "As you can see yours will be a slightly less armored model than the previous models, however we were able to add in mechanical aids to the legs, thus providing you with more speed and power." The lab tech pressed a button, suddenly the leg kick forward sending a clip of ammo on the table flying, hitting a scientist on the other side of the lab in the head. "SORRY!"

"ASSHOLE!" The clip flew back making the lab tech duck.

Turing back to the group, "Anyways you should go see if it fits." The captain walked out to a nearby locker room.

As Reuven left he moved on to the next member. "And how may you be?"

"Lt. Skorzeny, at your service." The technician walked back to his table.

"This miss, will be your armor. Unlike the others you will be using a modified Capture Trooper armor. Like your captains it will have servo-assists in the legs, but yours also comes with them in the arms too. We also used a lighter ceramic and magnesium based armor. It is much lighter but still able to stop a knife and slow a bullet." He lifts up the whole suit with one hand. He then set down the matte black suit, not white as normal, down and grabbed the greaves.

"Now my friend tells me you like to use your knife, so had had the pleasure to install a few extra for you." He presses a trigger in the glove, sending out two blades from the wrist. "I went ahead and added a knife to the second glove and there is more." He presses another button, this one on the forearm. Suddenly a knife burst from the elbow. "I added in these babies. Not only do they act as a good weapon but they also look pretty badass, but wait that's not all!" he went down to the boots and clicked a switch on the inside, thus shooting a blade from the toe of the boots. "These knifes make a wonderful addition to your arsenal, making sure every part of your body is pointy and can slit an enemy's throat. Now why don't you go put these on."

Sasha was already grabbing the armor before he finished. The soldier ran away squealing like a schoolgirl to the locker room. "Never seen anyone so happy for armor before. Getting back to business, you must be Ludmila. Leo has told me so much about you."

Aggressively Ludmila asked, "Like what?"

The lab tech glanced to Leo. Leo franticly shook his head. "Umm… Like what a marvelous sniper you are." He went to the table and grabbed a new set of armor. "Here is your armor. This is based off of the HAZMAT model. However yours is a lighter more mobile version. Well your armor does lack strength and servo assist it makes up for it in stealth." The technician pressed a button causing the suit to turn the color of the table. "As you can see we got rid of the active cloaking the current sniper garb uses. In its place we added a more passive camo system. This new system analyses the material you are on and recreates this on the skin of your suit. Well it is not as effective as the cloaking when still in movement it exponentially less noticeable." He touches the button again, returning the suit to its normal matte black.

"Now we also installed a better optic system. We have been able to fuse the infrared and night vision systems into a single cohesive system, making you a very deadly threat at night. Oh and we do have thermal cloaking on your suit so you don't have to worry about the thermal scanners of most of the ISA's bots. Back on topic, we also installed a computing system for your HUD that will automatically compensate for bullet drop and wind speed when aiming. Now would you join your friends and put this on." The sniper nonchalantly walked over to the locker room.

"Now for the best part." He used a dolley to wheel over the armor to Leo. "This is your suit Leo. As you can see blah, blah, blah, HAZMAT model, blah, blah, blah. Anyways your armor is obscenely well armored. I tested a captured M80 on it and not even a scratch. Even with all this protection it is smaller and lighter than your old armor. It also has much stronger servos at your joints. That way you can actually run and keep up with normal soldiers and be able to punch through concrete walls. We also got rid of all the external tanks you befriended." Leo started to rub his neck. "Ultimately you could take on a tank bare handed and still kick its ass. Now hurry up and get suited up. I still need to show you the new weapons." Leo took the dolley away from the lab tech and wheeled it to the locker room.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

When Leo entered the locker room the squad was already suiting up. Reuven was practically done putting on the suit. He was just struggling to finish connecting some plugs to the motor. "Damn plugs are so fucking hard to get to."

"You think that is bad, just wait till I put on mine. I literally have a fucking tank on my back." Leo was going to continue bitching when he was interrupted by a clanking noise. He turned to see Sasha wearing just the legs of her new suit. She was able to jump up to the ceiling with the new gear. All he could hear was a constant giggling from her mask and the crashes of when she hit the floor. "Dude, I think there is something seriously wrong with her. The only time she ever breaks from her normal brooding is when some poor bastard is bleeding on her."

"Well, it will enable her to bleed guys more efficiently." He finished connecting the plug, "Well better get going. I hear they have upgraded my StA-3." He started to leave but stopped and started followed Sasha with his head, marveling at her lack of armor on her torso. His head bobbled as he was mesmerized by how the skintight under shirt clings to her every feature of her breast yet lets the said feature can still move freely.

"Uhh, Captain you better stop before she notices. You don't want her to do what she did to that miner that one time to you, sir."

The captain snapped to reality. "Uhh, right." He quickly ran out the room still glancing back at the bouncing redhead. Leo returned to putting on his armor. Without the motors at the joints operational just standing was hell. He heard a click and then his suit powered on.

"There you go private." Ludmila appeared from behind him. She was suited of except for here helmet. Leo could look at the sleek yet cold beauty of the evolved Helghast. She got up close to his face; her short blonde hair was tickling his nose. She wrapped her arms around him. "So Leo, what have you told the lab?"

"Uhh… absolutely nothing." He struggled not to show that he was lying.

"Well then." She let go and went behind him. "Tell me or I pull the plug."

"I just mentioned how, uhh… pretty you are. Being a former upper-class citizen and all." Suddenly the weight of the suit came crashing down on him. "Oye, what was that for?"

She walked back in front of him. "You lied to me." She tossed the vital plug a couple feet in front of Leo. "Never talk about me again, especially that one night." She started to walk away from the crippled soldier. "Now would you be a dear and hurry up? Captain doesn't like it when you are tardy."

The former scientist mutters to himself as he struggled to inch his way to the plug. "Why did I sleep with her?" He then thought back to the one night with her. Her flawless skin, jaw dropping curves, her perfect breasts, the sheer vigor of the feisty women. "Oh yeah." After what seemed hours he crawled his way up to the plug. Now was the monumental task of plugging it in. "Still, definitely worth it."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Reuven and Sasha were testing out their new gear when Ludmila came out of the locker room. It took a little bit for him to rely that Leo was not trailing her as normal. "Hey Ludmila, where is your friend?"

He could notice her eyes rolling behind the mask. "Oh, let's just say that he is 'studying' in the stall." She walked over to a rail near where Sasha was butchering a poor legion of foam dummies with her new suit. "She back to her old self already?" One of the targets made of foam exploded as Sasha launched herself threw it.

"Yep, feel sorry for anyone who pisses her off now. Damn suit will make her a goddess of death." Sasha launched herself over twenty feet forward in a single lunge.

The sniper turned to him. "Oye, I thought that was my nickname! Well almost." The angel of death now stared with malice toward the new goddess of death. They watched for another couple minutes waiting for Leo to appear. By the time he showed up the army of foam targets had been turned into a pile of snow.

"Leo, took you long enough. I mean seriously, couldn't you have waited?" The captain looked with contempt at the private well Ludmila radiated an aura of pure hate and amusement.

"What do you mean? All I was doing was putting in the plugs." Leo then regretted his word choice.

"So that is what they are calling it these days?" Leo was desperately trying to explain himself, only digging himself a deeper hole. Ludmila found it most amusing.

"Blame Ludmila, she caused this whole delay." Once again word choice could have been better.

"Son, don't go blaming pretty ladies simply because they make you hot and bothered like." At this point Ludmila's chuckles broke down into hysterical laughter.

"Sir, did you just call me son? I am older then you Captain!" Before conversation could delve even lower, this would be an achievement in of itself, the lab technician returned.

"Goods to see you all suited up. I see Pvt. Skorzeny is enjoying her upgrade." He went over to the weapons rack. "Now for the next part. This Captain will be your new weapon." He lifted what remotely looked like a StA-3. "We have severely lightened your previous weapon. We toned down the rate of fire slightly but we did increase its accuracy exponential." The gun in front of him had lost a majority of features. Gone were the old air-cooling case. In its place were ceramic fins running the length of the barrel. The mechanism was much smaller and slightly less blocky. Overall the gun was alien in appearance. "Why don't you give it a whirl, sir." Reuven picked up the gun and aimed it downrange. It was even lighter than it looked. He fired downrange ant a foam target. The bullets cut through the cut out man, creating a cloud of white powder behind him. "Satisfied Captain Anielewicz?"

"Very, so what do you have for my other men?" The captain replaced the LMG on the table. The scientist walked over to the modified StA-14 of Pvt. Kraminov.

"Here you go miss." He handed her the rifle. Much to her surprise it looked exactly the same as when she turned it in.

"Uhh, sorry that I have to ask but what the hell did you even do?" She started to break down the weapon. Once again it was the same.

"Well, we looked at it but you would appear to have modified it too much for us to add much to it. So we did nothing." Ludmila let out a depressing sigh and started to rebuild her weapon. As she did she started to mutter to herself.

The scientist turned to Sasha now. "Well Lieutenant, for you we did little to your main weapon. However we took the liberty to give you some new gadgets." He picked up what appeared to be a cylindrical grenade. "You may remember the petrusite grenades we experimented with previously. Well they did lack the proper amount of oomph. So we took a variation of it the riot control was using and upgraded it."

He walked over to the range and pulled the pin. He then gave a gentle toss. As the grenade rolled toward a few targets it exploded. When it did it sent a dozen or so small objects flying, quickly settling on the ground around the targets. When it did the small object erupted in a burst of electricity. Following this burst the objects started to arc between each other and latch onto anything in range. After thirty seconds they started to die down.

"Previously this was used to subdue large crowds. However with a little tweaking it now has enough juice to kill an enemy quickly. Plus it can block a pathway, buying you time to, say, escape." He handed Sasha four of them.

"Now it is your turn Leo." He picked up a large weapon that was emitting an eerie green glow from the magazine. "For your new weapon we took the concept you created with your M327 and took it to the next level. Here is the StA-3X W.A.S.P., able to fire multiple missiles in either rapid succession or in a single mortar-like attack. We went ahead and created ammo for it that contain a decent amount of irradiated petrusite." The technician struggled to carry the weapon over to Pvt. Szilard. With his new suit Leo was able to wield the weapon with ease. "Just one word of warning. We have been able to produce only a few magazines of ammo so far, so please be sparing in your shooting today. I also suggest bring your M327 with you as a backup weapon."

"Thanks Bob, always a pleasure." Leo and the group exited the lab with all their new toys. They started to return to the loading lamp where they will receive their briefing and be deployed from.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Good to see you could make it Captain, we will be starting the briefing shortly." The Commodore greeted Reuven and his squad as they arrived at the loading docks. He quickly filed them to a series of benches that was occupied by over a five hundred of Stahl's personal army. Nearly all of them were wearing the armor of the Helghast Navy though. As Reuven speculated about the reason the Commodore walked in front of the group. All the troops in the audience arose as Chairman Stahl walked in. He then mounted a podium in the center of the loading ramps doors.

"Greetings great soldiers of Helghan. You are about to embark on the first mission of our new Republic." On the doors an image appeared. At first it was the iconic triangle of Stahl Arms under which were the words, 'Operation Nightfall'. "Tonight a contingent of naval personnel was to report to the main stronghold of the former administration, a government facility in the middle of Constantine City." The images in the background changed, showing an imposing walled structure with a sprawling palace in the epicenter with actual green grass surrounding it.

"Currently the remains of the loyalist are holed up in this palace. This includes the Senate and their precious Admiral. Now if we followed the standard procedure of our army we would throw wave after wave of our fine soldiers at the wall. However we are no longer stuck with those primitive thoughts."

The images changed again this time displaying the floor plan of the building. "Unannounced to the Admiral the contingent that was to reinforce the palace has decided to join us. This is where you fine soldiers come into play. Taking the place of the old contingent you will arrive in their ships and their uniform. Once there the mass majority of you will march in and proceed to take out all personnel inside the compound. Those of you not in disguise will be tasked with special operations. Your specific objective will be given to you by your CO." Stahl stepped down from the podium and picked up an StA-5X that the majority of soldiers in the crowd have carrying. "Now I personally will be joining you on this mission." The projector behind Stahl turned off and the doors opened up.

"Now let's show these bastards how the new Helghan takes care of the things!" The soldier rose and cheered as dozens of drop ships landed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Author's Note: Well here is the chapter. I tried to add some humor and dialogue, but then I remembered why I didn't do that in the first place. Sorry if this chapter sorta sucks. Anyways expect a glorious return to action in the next chapter. Also I would really love it if you could review the story. I am really curious if I am heading the right direction or not. I am also curious if anyone is picking up on some of my allusions.

As a note it might be a while to the next chapter because I am starting on a KZ and L4D crossover, an inFamous and L4D crossover and a normal L4D story. So yeah, I am kinda busy. Expect them all to be started by the beginning of May. However I will make sure that this story is continually updated at around the current pace and make sure I complete it. I am a firm believer in the 'Never Leave a Story Behind' initiative.

-Sir Robert the VI, Ph.D.


	5. Chapter 4

**Planet Helghan**

**Stahl Arms Deep South**

**May 19, 2360**

**1905 Hours**

As Stahl walked away from the podium the soldiers in the crowd start to march to their ship. The scene was one of seeming chaos yet under the shell of scrambling soldiers and clanking armor everything was orderly. The COs started to round up the masses of soldiers, shouting orders to their men. As the COs finished the NCOs started to carol their men to the respective drop ships. The swarm of soldiers would then file into the ships. The drop ships were constantly flying in and out as seemingly endless waves of them progressively thinned the mass of soldiers on the loading ramps.

Reuven and his squad however were not in the army of navy lookalikes. He and the rest of the soldiers not disguised were still inside the complex reviewing a more though briefing. In the room Reuven noted at least forty other soldiers. All of them were wearing some variation of the HAZMAT or Capture suit. They were all carrying very specialized weapons, one heavy had what looked like an 88mm cannon next to him. _'Recoil must be a bitch.' _However he was slightly more concerned with getting to his briefing at the moment. It had been sent to his HUD; however the captain had issues trying to scroll through the new interface. _'Damn computer.' _Lt. Skorzeny was the first to speak up about the delay.

"Sir, you might want to hurry, Stahl is walking over here." Reuven desperately tried to navigate his new computer. Finally he open the document and stared at it awe.

"Holy… Shit…" The rest of his squad turned their heads to see what was up. Reuven pulled out a video device and turned on the projector on it. Suddenly the ground beneath them was covered in an aura of red. Slowly the image turned into a wall of text and the floor plan of the building. In unison the squad cried out, "Fuck me."

They were tasked with guiding the chairman through the palace to the Senate's chamber. They weren't sure either to be honored or horrified. Before they could talk further Stahl walked into the group. They suddenly straightened up and saluted the chairman. "Well Captain Anielewicz, is your squad ready to take off?"

"Yes sir, we won't disappoint you." Reuven turned off his video device.

"Good, we need to be setting off shortly. Now would you kindly join me in the drop ship so we can show these fuckers whose boss?"

"Yes sir!" The squad saluted a final time before following the captain out of the building. As they did the other soldier still indoors followed suit. Outside the weather was abysmal, the temperature was way below freezing and the wind speed had to be over 50 MPH. Stahl readjusted the neck on his fur trimmed coat. Halfway across the platform the doors closed behind them. As Reuven looked around he could still see all the crimson from the previous day. Now it had a light sprinkling of white on top. He glanced over and saw the charred remains of the Raiders. All that was left of once proud guerrilla fighters were a small pile of charred bone and melted metal. Reuven thought back to the Raider leader. He shuddered when he remembered the aftermath of Sasha's fun with their leader. He felt sorry for the janitor who had to clean up that mess. Sasha herself was completely soaked with blood when she left the room laughing this morning, must have taken her hours for her to get it all off.

The group finally arrived at the drop ship. The soldiers clambered in after Stahl. Reuven shut the door, finally stopping the artic gust. As he started to strap into his seat Stahl gave the order to take off. As the craft lifted off the ground the ship's pulse jets stirred up the snow even more. The final fight for Helghan was here.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Constantine City**

**May 20, 2360**

**0200 Hours**

Former Autarch Guard Ted Lane was living in hell. Not only was he tasked with the monumental task of protecting the Senate, he was also tasked with helping protect the thousands civvies that were in the palace _and _help organize the defense from the damn rebels and their heretical leader Stahl.

'_Thank god we will have that naval detachment to help.' _He walked down the hall, passing the random civilian silently sitting against the wall. He entered the main sanctum and all around him was chaos. There were crying children, the old just laying on the ground. Ted was unsure if they were even alive. He looked at the other guards franticly trying to help people. The few nurses were being swamped with people looking for aid.

He escaped the mass panic though the main door. The new palace guard leader walked down the huge flight of stairs to a ramp half way down. He saw some of the Admiral's personal guard and the few remaining Army personnel setting up machine gun nest covering the front entrance. The razor wire in front of them gleamed wickedly in the faint light of the Helghast night. Out past the court yard he could see the red glow that was rebels at the gate. Luckily the gate was holding for now.

Ted looked up to see dozens of drop ships flying in towards the building. "About fucking time." The ships hovered over the courtyard as soldier after soldier streamed down from them. Within two minutes the drop ships had release hundreds of soldier into the vast courtyard. The swarming mass of red eyes quickly formed into perfect lines. They quickly marched toward the palace, the ground shaking under their boot. Ted and the others stared in awe at the approaching mass. The other soldiers quickly returned to their work. Ted walked down the rest of the steps to meet the set of red eyes at the head of the moving black mass. Ted pulled out a clipboard with all the statistics for the palace, shifting his StA-11 to his back.

"Welcome Lieutenant Commander, would you please follow me." The officer followed the palace guard up the steps. His stature looming over the guard, he was probably six foot two. He had a petrusite sword at his side next to a silenced StA-18. The guard started to describe the situation. "We are currently working on fortifications; we have five machine gun emplacements along with two mortars." He motioned to the assorted guards and soldiers working on the razor wire and sandbags.

The naval officer turned to the guard. "How many personal are here?" The officer looked forward again, the mass of soldiers behind him still trailing them up the endless walkway. The guard glanced at his clip board.

"We have one hundred twenty palace guards and about one hundred and fifty naval personal. Then we have seventy-two soldiers from the army." He flipped the page on his clipboard. "As for non-combatants we have close to fifty people working in intelligence, thirty-four medical personal and twenty-five from maintenance."

They were at the entrance of the palace. The CO looked inward to the sea of chaos. "Just how many civvies are there?" Ted scrolled through the papers in front of him. He readjusted cap.

"I am not sure sir, maybe two thousand or so. I just don't know sir." They both watched the enormous amount of civilians in front of them. They all knew that it was only a matter of time till the masses break through the gates. When that happened it will be a massacre. Some civilians were hysterical, trying to desperately do something, most however, were simply just waiting for the end. _'Maybe with the Navy here we can last long enough to get these people out of here.'_

Ted the saw some flashes of green from behind him. _'What the fuck?' _He turned around and started to walk down the stairs to find the source. He then noticed that the soldiers outside were missing. _'Where the hell did they go? Fucking cowards probably ran.' _He walked back up the stairs fuming, trying to see if he could round up a few guards to replace the missing men. As he reached the top the naval CO stepped in front of him.

"We would like to thank you for your service. Helghan is forever in you debt." Ted went to shove him away so he could get to his post. Suddenly he was on the ground and couldn't feel anything coming from his left shoulder. He reached over to find what was wrong, his hand came back red. _'What the hell?' _Not caring any more he looked upwards toward the Helghast night sky. He noticed the CO holstering a silenced StA-18 before lifting his sword towards the door and yelling something about no mercy. He continued to stare at the night sky, seeing soldier walk by him with random green flashes and the sounds of screams somewhere far away. The screams grew fainter as the sky turned a white. _'What the fuck? Why is the sun out-_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Constantine City**

**May 20, 2360**

**0245 Hours**

As they flew over the city Reuven looked out the window. Constantine City had a higher quality of life than the Helghast capital. The city actually looked like a first world city, not the endless slums of Phyrrus. At this hour of the night only the street lights were illuminating the otherwise black city. Reuven started to see flashes in the street. At first he assumed it was some type of wildlife. Then he realized it was gun fire. From this distance reminded him of the petrusite flies that illuminated the summer nights with their flashes. It was oddly cheery for being a sign of mass violence and death.

"Marvelous isn't Captain?" Reuven jumped at the first words spoken during the whole trip. He looked over to Stahl.

"Excuse me sir?" The chairman got up and peered out the window at the streets below. Reuven noticed a small arcing light explode into flames. _'Must have some Molotovs.' _

"The revolution, people actually choosing what to do, it is marvelous. " Stahl stepped back from his window. "Unlike my predecessor I won't make the mistake of ignoring them completely." He continued to rant as he paced in front of the squad. "After we finish our course of revenge and reparations I will step down and create the first democratic senate of the Helghan." The chairman then raised his hand. "Of course I will still be there to provide assistance, _but _I will put the will of the people foremost in my concerns." He glanced out the window once more; in the distance the searchlights of the palace became visible. "We are here." The chairman finally sat down and secured himself well Echo squad rose and attached their harnesses to the ropes.

"Show time." The palace quickly came into view. The building was illuminated and decorated in an obscene amount of triad banners. From the front entrance Reuven could see alternating flashes of green and yellow. _'Show must have already started.'_ The three other ships carrying the other specialized soldiers came into formation as they went over the walls. Reuven noticed a withering mob of people at the front gate. Before he could figure out if they were friend or foe the ships lurched to a stop over the green of the courtyard. _'Here we go again.' _The doors slid open. He was knocked back by sudden gust of wind.

"Go, go, go!" The four members of Echo slid down the rope. As the rope hissed the other ships dropped off their loads. Reuven hit the ground and quickly unhooked himself from the craft. He then swung up his StA-3 and checked his surroundings. The grass below him waved as the force of the pulse jets pushed down upon him. "Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!" The squad formed up as the other soldiers started to run to their objectives. Reuven motioned the drop ship to land. The ship hit the ground as the other ships in the contingent flew away. The chairman hopped out of the craft carrying a briefcase and a StA-5X. Echo squad formed up around him.

"Shall we precede Captain?" Reuven nodded and squad quickly walked around to the side of the complex. They were constantly checking their flanks and aiming at the slightest noise. Stahl on the other hand went on without the slightest care in the world. As they closed in on the side of the palace Reuven saw some of the other soldiers stopping at the side wall of the palace. He saw the soldier with the huge cannon step back from the wall. He unleashed one round, tearing a massive hole in the wall and enveloping the area in dust. Seconds later they came out with multiple bloody and dazed people in hand. Over the com he contacted Ludmila.

"Pvt. Kraminov, can you tell me who they are?" He quickly got a reply.

"Looks like intelligence, judging by their insignia." The troopers tossed all but a male and female senior officer down on their knees. They then took aim with their rifles and quickly executed them. As their headless corpses settled on the ground the soldiers tossed the remaining intelligence officers on their shoulders and sprinted at an amazing speed toward the courtyard. _'Must have the new servos too.'_

They arrived at their entry point. Reuven was reaching for a satchel charged when Leo walked up to the wall. "If you would excuse me, sir." The soldier simply kicked the wall, blowing out a decent sized hole in the wall. As the dust settled, Reuven saw bodies that the shrapnel the wall produce turned into ground beef.

"Clear!" He turned back from the door. "Leo, Sasha, clear a path to the Senate's bunker. Ludmila and I will guard the chairman, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" The heavy and capture trooper stormed into the hole. Reuven walked back to Stahl and Ludmila. He looked up to the windows of the palace above him. He watched as they emitted flashes of green and the occasional yellow. Suddenly a person jumped from the window. They fell for about ten seconds before they made contact with the ground next to Reuven. The ground was not forgiving to the person; they were turned into a jelly-like substance. Some of it splashed on Reuven and the chairman.

"Fuck!" He wiped the reddish sludge off of his suit. The chairman could care less about the material on his pants. Reuven then heard shots coming from their entry way. They were quickly followed by blood curdling screams. _'Sasha has found some new prey.' _Underneath the mask Reuven smiled.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Leo watched in a mixture of horror and awe as Sasha dispatched the enemy. The Capture Trooper launched herself head first into the crowd of five guards. She crashed into one, sending both of them hurtling down the hall. Sasha continued to skid across the floor on top of the man. When she came to a halt she ejected both of her knifes on her hands. She slashed them at the man's arms, quickly disconnecting them from his body. The man screamed as his arms spouted blood, painting the walls to his side. The remaining guards flinched momentarily as they watched their friend die. Three of them ran after Sasha, who was running down the hall. _'Poor bastards.' _

The remaining soldier turned to Leo. He, no it was a she, emptied her StA-11 into him. Leo couldn't help but laugh at the ricocheting rounds. He slowly walked forward at the retreating soldier. She continued to desperately try to kill the walking tank. _Click! _The gun was out of ammo. She tossed down her SMG and grabbed her two StA-18s. She fired round after round at Leo as she walked backwards toward the Senate's chamber. _Click, Click! _She dropped both of her pistols as she hit the doors to the chamber. In defeat she slid down the door, looking down as her enemy walked forward.

'_She sure has spunk, would make a decent soldier. Maybe…'_

She pulled off her helmet, showing her short black hair. Wanting to see the face of the enemy Leo reached down to his victim. He removed her mask, she put up no struggle. He looked down on his victim, her face was not that of the evolved Helghast but it still had a beauty of it own. She looked up at him, her red eyes tearing up. She muttered a single word from her tearing face, "Please"

"Fucking pathetic." In disgust at her weakness he kicked in her crying face, her head essentially exploding in from the force of his foot. The huge steel door behind it started to cave in from the power. He lowered his foot into a forming pool of crimson, bits of meat and what he assumed were teeth clung to it. Her body stayed in its slumped position, her head, now a mingled, shapeless mess, hung down to her side by a few frayed pieces of skin and muscle. Sasha returned from her trip down the hall, her black armor covered in blood and bits of flesh.

"The threat is neutralized and the entrance secured Lieutenant." He walked away from the blood covered door, the pool of blood following him.

"Good, I'll tell the Captain to get the Chairman here now. Would please remove the body, it is in the way." As Sasha stepped away from the door, talking on her com, Leo bent down and picked up the dead guard. He carried her body down the hallway to the armless man, her wound pouring blood down his armor. He tossed the body next to him; she splashed some of the crimson on him adding to the mess. _'I hope this blood comes off.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As he walked back to the doors the chairman and the rest of his squad came walking in. "So Captain how are we going to get in? I couldn't even kick her in." Before Reuven could answer Stahl spoke up.

"It is quite easy really." He walked to the door, side stepping the pool of blood.

"What, you have some super bomb or something in that case?" Ludmila motioned to the briefcase Stahl set down when he got to the door.

"No miss, I have the key."

"Oh… well then." Stahl started to punch numbers into the keyboard. Reuven and his squad took up position in front of the doors as Stahl finished typing in the password.

"Open sesame." The doors slid open, causing the blood pool to flow onto the granite floors of the chamber. As the squad was carefully aiming into the room Stahl just strolled in, "I've always wanted to say that." Seeing the chairman going on ahead Echo squad caught up with him. As they formed up behind him they started to look around at their surroundings. The room was lavishly decorated with many portraits and banners decorating the marble walls. They walked to the table where there were only seven old men surrounding it along with one beautiful woman.

One of the men with a handle bar mustache stood up. "Welcome Stahl, I see you brought friends with you."

The man, who Reuven recognized as Admiral Orlock, pressed a few buttons on the table. A scanner traced across the body of Reuven. Words form above the table.

"Let see, Reuven Anielewicz, age 23. Former sergeant in the Helghast army. Decorated tour in the defense of Phyrrus. Dishonorable discharge following tour in the Feliciean Moutnains in January 2360. Joined Stahl Arms as of March 2360." Orlock pressed a few more buttons, the scanner activated and the display changed.

"Leo Szilzard, age 26. Enrolled in to the Constantine City Institute of Technology in 2352, graduated top of his class four years later. Joined Stahl Arms in 2356. Has multiple injunctions for human rights abuse, all dismissed." He scrolled though the roster again.

"Ah Miss Kraminov, always a pleasure to see you, I hardly recognize you under all that armor. How is your father? I heard he came down with some sickness." All of Echo squad stared at Ludmila.

"He is fine thank you. It is amazing what a competitor's bullet through the head does for your health. "

"Well sorry to hear that. Let's see your record. Ludmila Kraminov, age 25, daughter of Vicktor Kraminov, owner of one of the largest mines on Helghan. Enrolled in military school, eventually became member of the Army in the top one percent of marksmen. Discharged shortly after for insubordination, was to be executed but charge dropped. Joined Stahl Arms in 2358." He pressed a few more buttons and nothing happened.

"I appear to not have a file on you miss, this is unimportant though. I saw the security footage and that is enough to label you as a psycho rather than a soldier." He moved away from the table.

"Thank you." Orlock stared for a second before carrying on.

"So, is this how you operate Stahl? By using monsters and the left overs of the military?" He started to walk around the table toward Stahl.

"Well as your men are kindly allowing us to show it is quite effective." Stahl walked past Orlock to the table. "Onto business, all I want to know is who is with me?" Before anyone could answer the admiral grabbed his shoulder.

"Is this what this is all about, to ask a fucking question?" He pulled Stahl away from the table. The images on the table now showed the main sanctum of the palace. The floors were covered in inches of blood flowing towards the stairs as hundreds of soldiers shift through the tattered clothing that littered the floor. "Do you have any idea how much Helghast blood you have spilt here?"

Stahl brushed his hands off his shoulder, "I would guess somewhere in the realm of twenty-four thousand liters, give or take a few thousand." Orlock stared in shock as he returned to the table, setting his briefcase underneath it. "So, who's with me?" Once again Orlock barges in.

"Do have any heart, do you realize what you are doing to this nation." Before he could go on a rant Stahl swung his StA-5X upwards, connecting with the admiral's jaw. Blood flew onto Stahl's face as the admiral fell to the ground.

"Damn, that felt good." He turned back to the table, all of Echo squad smiling at the unconscious leader of the navy. "Once again, who is with me?" One of the senators with cropped hair stood up.

"I am with the chairman." The rest of the senators looked at each other but none moved. Then the lady at the end of the table stood up.

"I am going with Stahl." She started to walk over to the doors and join Echo squad and the senator.

"Wise chose malady, anyone else going to join Miss Visari?" Echo squad turned to stare at the daughter of Visari, not realizing until now who she was. Meanwhile the rest of the senators looked at each other, once again no more came forth.

"Well then you can return to your business, we all will be leaving now." He turned around and followed the rest of the group out of the room, leaving his brief case. Suddenly Orlock came charging, knife in hand, at Stahl as he exited out of the door. However the admiral slipped in the blood of the former guard. Stahl turned around and gazed down on the fallen leader.

"Useless as always." He raised his StA-5X and fired a burst at the admiral, causing him to explode. He coated the chairman and the backs of Echo squad in a nice coating of red. The senate burst into an outrage but dared not advance from their seats. Stahl turned around and continued to exit the palace. When he was ten meters down the hallway he muttered to himself, "Goodbye…" He reached into his coat and pulled a remote detonator. He pressed down the button, behind him the doors to the chamber exploded into a sea of green accompanied by screams. The lady and senator turned around and stared well Echo squad just continued walking forward. To them the revolution was over.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Disclaimer: Killzone and all characters and events are the property of Guerrilla Games and Sony Computer Entertainment. However the other characters and scenarios are mine. If used I will release Sasha's wrath upon you. You have been warned.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed chapter 4, I enjoyed writing this one much more than the previous one. The next stop is the remnants on Vekta, plus I am thinking of having some short flash backs to the original invasion and the character's past along with a short visit to some of the other colonies. So expect there to be more focus on things other than Helghan for the near future.

So would you kindly review this chapter, I would love you forever. Also feel free to ask questions about the story or anything in general. The next chapter should be up in a week. I could also use some fill ideas till the invasion so any suggestions would be wonderful, I have post-invasion planned out, just not pre-invasion completely.

Until next time,

-Sir Robert the VI, Ph.D.


	6. Chapter 5

**Planet Helghan**

**Stahl Arms Mechanical Design**

**May 20, 2360**

**0900 Hours**

The trip back to base was also silent but for an entirely different reason, it was really awkward. Lady Visari was in a mild state of shock over the sudden end of the senate. Meanwhile the surviving senator never stopped giving a death glare at Stahl who in turned never stopped staring at the members of Echo squad. Reuven thanked Visari when the drop ship finally landed.

There drop off point was at the manufacturing headquarters for Stahl Arms large vehicles. It was an enormous sprawling ship yard near the largest body of 'water' on Helghan. He refrained from calling it water because being in it for more than a few minutes would cause all the flesh to be eaten off of you bones. Above the water Reuven saw countless Helghast Cruisers hovering as even more small ships ferried up supplies.

As Echo squad marveled at the sight of military might the chairman and his distinguished guests silently walked into the drop ship that ferried them away, leaving Echo squad alone on a tarmac over five clicks from the nearest building without any orders.

"Uh, Captain, what do we do now?" The squad stared at the fleeing ship.

"At his moment I think we should just stay in place and see if any one comes."

"Why don't we walk up?"

"How do you think they will react to a group of armed soldiers approaching their doors?"

"Point taken, sir."

The squad waited on the burning tarmac. The barren landscape around them leaves little to do. Ludmila was having fun with her new camo system, turning her suit an array of different colors. Leo was kicking around a large rock, playing a solitary world cup. Reuven was pacing back and forth. Sasha was just standing at attention, waiting for any sign of people.

After a couple hours the squad was completely bored out of their minds. Ludmila and Leo were sleeping, their backs leaning against one another. Their helmet strewn on the ground next to them, their steely blonde hair intertwined. Reuven was laying down on the ground watching the ships, his head resting on his helmet. Sasha was still standing, rubbing her blades together; sparks flew from the two knives. She was the only one with her helmet on, she actually needed it.

The sky was starting to darken, the ships above providing a vibrant light show. There was a light rain; the high acidic content was causing the tarmac to sizzle slightly. Echo squad didn't bother putting on their helmets, the rain only causing a slight tangling feeling in their evolved skin. Sasha was the only one who had to worry; she simply kept of her armor, the internal cooling system on full blast. She suddenly spoke up.

"Captain, we have company." She raised her hand and pointed to a cloud of dust coming towards them from the opposite side of the facility

Reuven rose up, and looked at the approaching cloud of dust, his face steaming as the drops of water rolled down his face. "About fucking time." He tried to remove some of the acid rain out of his hair before reapplying his helmet. He picked up his StA-3, "Pack it up, we are getting out of here. Pvt. Kraminov, could you confirm the approaching targets, see if they are friendly."

"As you wish." She rose up from her sleeping comrade, his head crashing into the ground. "Dumbass" She picked up her helmet and dumped out some water pooled inside. She put it on and sealed the latches. Her hand went up towards the slightly protruding eyepieces as they flipped a switch, the optics on her helmet giving of a soft whirling noise as they focused in on the targets.

"Captain, we may have a slight problem." She turned around to him and handed him her scoped rifle. "See for yourself."

Reuven looked down the sights, trying to find the targets. He finally came across them. "Shit! Where the hell did they come from?" Down the sights he could see an entire column of ISA armored cav. "Pvt. Kraminov, do you have a count?"

"Yes sir. Umm… we have twelve bruisers, eight ass kickers, fifteen tin cans, six walkers, nine buggies and about seventy-five twinkles, sir."

"Pvt. Szilard, try to contact someone, tell them what we have here. If we don't get reinforcements soon we are fucked."

"Yes sir." Leo put down his gun and tried to contact friendlies. "Stahl Arms Mechanical, this is Echo Squad, 1st Platoon, Fox Company, 2nd Shock Division, Deep South Legion. You have an ISA column approaching. We need immediate reinforcements. Column consists of fifteen APCs, eight Hammers, twelve light tanks, eight Exos, nine light assault vehicles and seventy-five plus infantry. I repeat immediate reinforcements required." He waited minutes but got no reply. "No luck Captain."

The enemy column was now three clicks from their position, they were starting to approach a series of towers around the complex's exterior. Suddenly a series of green arcs started to form around the towers and engulf the surrounding area. _'What the hell is that?' _Suddenly the entire column came to a halt, the cloud of dust quickly dissipating in the wind. One of the vehicles exploded, from the distance it looked like a small orange mushroom forming on the horizon.

"You have to love irradiated petrusite." Reuven turned to the former scientist and was about to ask how he knew that when the radio sounded.

"Echo squad, this is Stahl Arms. Do not engage the enemy; a MAWLAR is going to neutralize the enemy. We are sending a retrieval vehicle to your position. Hold tight, ETA is five minutes."

"Understood, Echo squad out." The sound of the explosion finally hit the squad, at this point it was a dull thud. He turned around to the complex and saw the lights of a vehicle approaching. At this point it was night, yet it was fairly illuminated. Above them were the lights of hundreds of ships, looking like moving stars. In front of them was a glowing building and behind them was an ominous green glow accompanied by the occasional explosion some poor bastard.

To his left he saw a moving fortress approaching them. On its side a huge ass gun started to glow white. Suddenly an enormous white beam shot toward the estranged armor column. The night was turn to day for the few seconds the beam was over head. The enemy column exploded, he could see the faint outline of tanks flying dozens of yards. It looked like a kid kicked a bunch of toys.

"A pretty badass lightshow eh Captain?" Ludmila was adjusting her optics. "Pretty impressive, can't tell what it does to infantry at this distance, but I bet it ain't fun though."

"I almost feel sorry for the sons of bitches." Reuven turned from the smoldering enemy to the approaching friendlies. "Squad form up, we have about a minute till we leave." Reuven handed Ludmila back her StA-14 and picked up his StA-3. Sasha was already at attention. Leo was picking up his W.A.S.P., the magazine and end of the barrel giving off a swirling green glow.

The vehicle rolled up as the squad shuffled together. Hover would actually be a more apt term since it was a light hover tank. A lieutenant in HAZMAT attire jumped off the vehicle and saluted Reuven, dust from the vehicle's propulsion system sending dust everywhere. The free particles stuck to the wet armor of the group.

"Captain Anielewicz, would you come with me. I will brief you on the situation on the way." At the command Reuven's squad and the lieutenant hopped back into the hover tank. The lieutenant bent down and hit the floor of the building. At the sign the tank started to move again. The lieutenant turned to Reuven and began to brief him.

"Captain Anielewicz, we would like to thank you for your service as bait not many peo-" Reuven rose from his seat.

"What? We were bait? When did this happen."

"Didn't the chairman tell you? That was why we put you out there, to help draw the ISA closer and to act as a backup if the defense grid failed. I thought you knew and volunteered." He set Reuven down in his seat. "So as onto what you are to do. We are currently prepping for the invasion of Vekta. We will be leaving at sunrise so you need to get everything ready immediately. Your company is already been briefed and is currently in deep sleep. So do you have any questions?"

Before Reuven could ask the tank lurched to a stop inside a hanger, "We are here." The lieutenant hopped off the vehicle and turned back around to Reuven. "The full mission briefing and a map of the complex has been sent to your HUD. Now I need to go, I have more asses to kick into gear." The man saluted and started to jog to a door.

Reuven just stared at the closing door in confusion. His squad started to get off well he just sat there. Sasha was the last one to the edge when she turned to Reuven.

"Captain, you better hurry it up, sir. You don't want us to invade Vekta without you." She jumped off of the tank. Reuven slowly stood up and walked over to the edge.

'_Here we go again.' _He jumped off and caught up with his squad on their way to the armory.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Rees**

**ICSA HQ**

**May 23, 2360**

**1300 Hours**

Prime Minister of Diplomatic Affairs for the Vechian Republic Roger Moore was dreading the meeting with the Helghast. They were normally stuck up pricks that looked down on everyone, even the groups that were superior in every way minus military force. This of course included nearly every one of the Independent Colonist Strategic Alliance. However there was now a more reasonable person in command now so things may improve.

Prime Minister Moore entered the room. It was a relatively small room with only enough room for a handful of people. However on the wall were multiple monitors with video uplinks to every member of the ICSA and then a few more. He sat down in front of the video camera.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe everyone is here so let's get started." As the representative of Rees, the most powerful and oldest member of the ICSA, he was the de facto head of the board. He turned to a blank screen with a rotating triad. "I believe we all know why we are here today. It appears that the new Helghast government has a proposition for us." The screen turned from the red triad to an image of Chairman Stahl with Lady Visari behind him.

"Greeting proud members of the Independents, I realize that in the past the Helghast have been less than fair in our dealings with you all. I am here to change that." The images on the screen changed to the view of thousands for Helghast Cruisers in deep space. "As you can see we are currently in the process of seeking retribution against the ISA and UNC for their past crimes. I am certain you all know how that ended last time but this time is different." The images turned back to pictures of thousands of columns of Helghast marching toward the ships. "As the previous invasion of Vekta and the ISA's invasion have shown you can't capture planets with a small force attacking the planet's heart. You need to capture everything. To do this we have sent all but a few thousand of our forces to Vekta all equipped with the latest weapons from Stahl Arms and Visari Corp. As of right now the count is approximately at three billion, a whole third of the population of Helghan."

'_Holy Shit! That's more than all those who fought in WWIII.' _Moore knew that the Helghast were determined and had a large military force but he had no idea that they would send that many people off to a single planet. The taskforce is even larger than the original exodus to Helghan.

"Now this almost guarantees our success in the conquest of Vekta but it does put us in an interesting position. The UNC will certainly attack and use all their forces and call upon those from its colonies. This equals somewhere in the realm of ten to fifteen billion men. Now once on Vekta we could be able to hold them off for a while and with some new weapons we could take out a large portion of their forces but we will eventually fall and I am certain they won't restrain from using nuclear weapons."

One of the members sounded up. She was Ameera Ghannam; leader from the colony on Lalande spoke up. "Why exactly should we care about you? What does the mighty Helghast Empire need to come here to state the obvious?" Moore new she was from a Middle Eastern descent but the harsh world her colony was located on had changed them slightly. They like the Helghast wore respirators but they lack the distinctive goggles of the Helghast, instead they had glowing blue eyes. Moore believed that they were some sort of adaption for the always dark conditions of Lalande that went along with their pale skin.

"Well Miss, first off it is Republic now. Second, what do you think the UCA will react to this action after we are destroyed? They will exploit it and use it as an excuse to eradicate a thorn in their side, you, all of you! We shall be an excuse and they will rally everyone to destroy all the other free colonies in fear that they will follow our example, and believe me, the UCA will do it."

Moore had not thought of the possibility before. He could see the UCN progressively nuking every ICSA planet from orbit till there was no life. It was the only way to be sure. He restrained a shiver, keeping his complexion in front of the others.

The leader from Arcturus spoke up. "So Mr. Stahl, what exactly are you getting at?"

"Well Lord Julius, I propose that the ICSA joins us. If you all attack the separate colonies of the ISA before they are able know what is happening we can prevent them from exploiting their superior numbers."

Ameera spoke up again, "Divide et imperia it is then. Now I have a question, what is in this operation for all of us?" She shifted her white mask slightly.

"You mean besides not being nuked into oblivion? First off you no longer have to fear the UCA or the ISA any longer. Secondly, the Helghast will never attack any of the ICSA's colonies. You can also keep any planets you capture. Finally if you sign up the Helghast will open our doors to trading for the first time in decades and ship you mineral supplies along with material from both Stahl Arms and Visari Corp. Now does that answer your question?"

"It will do Stahl, now if you don't mind we will delegate shortly in private." At that Stahl's screen turned back to the red tirade. _'I will need to change that sometime soon.' _The group started to debate over to go with Stahl's idea. As the leader of the group Moore made the proposal.

"Since the Helghast leave us little choice and we will get many advantages out of this I propose that we have the Helghast join the ICSA."

"I have to disagree, sir. I do not believe that the only way to make it out of this is to fight. Besides is it really what we do? Doesn't the act of taking over other planets make us just as evil as the UCA bastards?" The person speaking was the leader of Pavonis.

Ameera spoke up, "Is it not worse to let the UCA run rampant and suppress all the nations of the universe? Besides we need more trade and a proper home. We can't have any of those with the ISA and UCA around. What is more important to us, appeasers to the UCA or our own people?"

"I am still against it." Moore decided to finish the argument in one motion.

"I call for a vote. All those in favor of assisting the Helghast and inducting them in to our ranks say 'Aye'." Seventeen of the twenty-four colonies present voted for it.

"All against the motion say 'Nay'." Four said nay.

"All abstaining from the motion raise your hands." The remaining three raised their hands. "I think this settles it then. We shall go to war. Now it is time to tell Stahl the news, would someone enable his feed?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Vekta**

**New Southern Wales**

**May 23, 2360**

**1500 Hours**

Colonel Embry walked into the command tent, his lieutenant to his right and his dog trailing behind them shortly. He pushed open the flaps and walked forward to the table. Around the table were various commanders of both Helghast and the various rebel forces on Vekta talking about their recent activity. He dropped down a huge file of maps and intel onto the table, causing the leaders to snap to attention and salute their leader.

"At ease, now there is a reason I brought you all here. Our friends from Helghan are returning and we need to make proper preparations." The room started to shuffle as various officers murmured to each other. "It won't be as easy as last time; the UCA has purged nearly all of the government and military official on Vekta so we can't rely on moles to make the infiltration of the defense grid easy. This is where we come in."

His lieutenant passed around some of the maps and intel reports to the officers. They started to shift though all the papers, some smiling, others looking in horror. "As you can see if we attack certain instillation we can make this invasion go smoothly. Now we need to make sure this looks like normal activity that way we don't give these bastards any warning. Here is the full objective for your missions."

Lt. Shultz took the huge booklets to their respective officer, the rebels being extra thick. The officers read through the reports, some skimming, others absorbing every detail.

"Now are there any questions?" A scarred red haired rebel raised his hand, clearly showing a prosthetic hook in place of his left hand. "Yes, Captain Skorzeny."

"What of the invasion force, do we know specific numbers or if we will have allies?" The scars along his face didn't quite match with the rest of his articulating face.

"To be honest I do not know for certain. The Helghast are restraining from sending any messages out of fear for tipping off the ISA and UCN. However you can expect at least twice as many soldiers as our task force and the operation calls for the use of foreigners as cannon fodder but I am unsure if they will be here. Any more questions?" The leader of the few remaining Helghast fighters raised her hand.

"Sir, do you think the ISA will catch onto us?"

"So long as we are carful, no. However that doesn't mean we should go easy on them, so any more questions." Captain Skorzeny raised his hand once more.

"Just one, sir. How bloody do you want the streets?"

The aging colonel smirked. "Just enough that the ISA is afraid to go outside of their houses." Captain Skorzeny mouth turned up into a sinister smile.

"It will be done sir."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Lalande**

**Camp 19C 'Vigilance'**

**May 24, 2360**

**0600 Hours**

Sergeant Layla Nabighah was pissed right now. At three in the morning she was alerted that she had an hour to get ready. Right now she was marching towards a Lalande Cruiser. Unlike its blocky ISA and Helghast cousins the Lalande cruisers had slick and gentle curves that would make any girl envious. She tried to keep the other women in her squad in line as the column slowly walked to a space elevator. It had been almost two hours and the line had moved only a hundred yards or so. Luckily Lalande was not a hot and sunny planet. Actually it was never sunny. Due to its distance from the star it orbited it was never than Earths night during a crescent moon, the stars on the other side provide even less light.

It was a miracle the planet was ever colonized. At first it was disregarded because of the darkness, the UCA just assumed it was lifeless and uninhabitable. It wasn't till they sent a probe that they found that there was habitual atmosphere and even life thriving on the surface. The planet wasn't a cold, lifeless hunk of rock because of a species of bubble-like algae in the planet's atmosphere that produced heat during a variation of photosynthesis. Unlike other plants the algae made photosynthesis via cosmic radiation rather than visible light.

However there were some problems. Firstly the algae had some real nasty byproducts; mainly they would produce a spore like toxins that would cause human skin to form a rash that could become infected. When breathed in it would cause a condition similar to the lung burn of Helghan. This prompted them to wear respirators and wrap themselves in strips of white fabric. Like the Helghast they eventually evolved to the point where they do not need their protective equipment but they still wear it out of pride.

Secondly the Lalandens could not see at all in the dark conditions of Lalande. This is where the harsh conditions of actually came in handy. The atmosphere of Lalande did not block as much radiation as other planets. This was initially a problem and caused many deaths due to cancer and countless mutated and still born children. Over time they grew resilient to the effects of radiation. A few of the mutated children were human except for their eyes. These eyes were blue in color and seemingly emitted light, in actuality these eyes were extremely sensitive and would reflect light like that of an Earth cat but to an extreme to where they do it even in normal light conditions. These glowing blue eyes became the trademark of the Lalandens.

Another trademark was the amount of women. On Lalande women were much more numerous than men. The reason for this is believed to have something to do with the radiation that plagued the planet. It is theorized that it caused a problem with the male gamete, lowering the frequency of the Y chromosome. This lead to female births outnumbering male births ten to one. Thus women dominated society of Lalande. Men were treated as second class citizens, living in separate slums and only interacted with for breeding purposes. Women filled many of the traditional roles of males, most notably having an all-female army.

Layla continued to march on, her heavy metal armor stating to wear down on her shoulders. The standard armor of Lalande was a under coat of Kevlar, followed by a metal plate on the upper chest and abdomen and a spiked metal shoulder pads. On their heads was a Kevlar hood with a symbolic horn like structure that pointed back words like that of a gazelle. On the face was a metal respirator. To finish it all off was a through wrapping of white wrapping that covered everything minus face.

Overall their armor was heavy but really tough. This went along with their weapons. The primary weapon that they all lugged around was a StA-14 A3. This was a heavily modified version of Stahl Arms iconic semi-auto rifle. However it had now it had a twenty round box magazine, full auto fire, and a heavy two foot long serrated bayonet. It was long, heavy, and fierce weapon that struck fear in most anyone who saw it.

It had to be approaching nine when they finally got to the elevator. Her lieutenant spoke for the first time in hours, "Okay ladies pile on." _'That entire wait and the only speech we get is four words long.' _The bored members of 3rd platoon of 2nd Shock Army piled onto the elevator. When the last person got on the elevator shot off. The force from the flying platform only added to the weight of their armor and rifles on their shoulders. She stared out the windows as they flew up, marveling at the very faint glows of their cities. They quickly became obscured by the life giving algae that populated the sky. Once in space it was surprisingly beautiful. The light from all the stars was blinding to her sensitive eyes.

Finally the elevator jolted to a stop, the soldiers on board filed out and walked down the sterile white halls. The hallway was devoid of lighting, the only light source was a small line of skylights that ran the length of the hall. They kept on walking passing other squads of specialized soldiers. One specifically formidable group was clade in extra thick metal suits that had to be over eight feet tall. All along the joints of the upper torso were spikes that complemented the giant three foot blades that extended from the back of their wrist. The only way Layla could tell there was even a Lalanden inside was the translucent face plate where you could see the faint outline of their glowing blue eyes.

Moving on her platoon soon arrived at their destination. Sgt. Nabighah entered the cruiser and walked down the stark whit halls to the sleeping quarters. They quickly marched into the room where they would spend the next two weeks. The room was filled all the way up to its ceiling with small metal doors three foot wide and two feet tall. It reminded her of a morgue. The platoon broke rank to find their respective sleeping chamber. After a little looking Layla found hers, she opened the little door and pulled out a long metal tray with only a little foam padding at the bottom. Sighing at where she will be shortly she placed her rifle on a rack on the ceiling of her personal cell and climbed onto the metal tray. Trying to situate herself on the small metal tray Layla eventually found a position that didn't make her feel like her spine was going to break, the armor she was wearing didn't help. She then flicked a switch and the tray slowly retracted the little light in the room fading as she slowly slid into complete darkness. The cell sealed shut with a small hiss as it became pure darkness, not even her eyes could see anything. The cell was suddenly illuminated in a light blue light. Layla then heard a slight his as she smelt a new smell appear. She tried to figure out what it was as her world faded black.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Disclaimer: I do not own Killzone. It is the property of Guerrilla Games and Sony Computer Entertainment.

Author's Note: I would like to ask you for a review, anything that would help point me in the proper direction would be greatly appreciated.

You may have also noticed that there was a near complete lack of action this time around. If you like it or not there will be plenty in the next chapter where you can see the various guerilla tactics of the remnants and the exponentially more brutal tactics of the rebels. Don't expect a lot of anything from Echo squad and for that matter Helghan for the next few chapters. However there might be a flash back or two (I am still debating).

Now the next chapter will up in a week or so. I am exponentially less busy now than I have been in the past two weeks so I should be able to pump out them out at a regular pace now. I am also thinking of putting up some art. I have a Lalande almost done and I am working on a group picture of Echo squad before and after their upgrade.

On a closing note I hope you all have a fantastic Easter and enjoyed the story.

-Sir Robert VI, Ph.D.


	7. Chapter 6

**Planet Vekta**

**Vekta City**

**May 24, 2360**

**0900 Hours**

A lone figure was walking down the near vacant streets of slums in Vekta. To the many UCN security officers it appeared to be a teenage Vektan girl in an old, tacked together trench coat and her hair in a ponytail. The girl was gracefully not falling over the strewn rubble that covered all the streets. It may have been over two years since the Helghast first attacked this city but it was still in a state of destruction. Then again it was never really nice in the first place. _'At least they got rid of all the bodies.' _The girl was quickly moving, the tails of her trench coat fluttering in her wake. _'I should slow down and avoid suspicion but I am going to be late.'_ She looked down to her watch. _'Shit, I need to double time it.' _ To the girls luck none of the security officers stopped her, curfew was not in effect at this time and she didn't look particularly to their taste.

She arrived at her location at a gateway to a canal. Looking both ways she climbed up the chained up door into the aqueduct. The rusting metal didn't make too much noise as the small teen clambered over the top. She jumped down from the top and quickly ducked over to the side of the aqueduct that the sun had yet to touch. Quickly she ran along it till she came to a large iron door. She knocked on its rusty mass, some bit of corrosion falling off. A peek hole slid open and a pair of blue eyes peered into hers. "Are you going to let me in?" The hole slid shut and a series of whirling noises started to go off as an elaborate locking system was being unlocked.

A grizzled old man stood in the door way, his beret slightly of kilter. "Ya coming in Zoey?"

The young woman walked through the doorway, giving a nod to the white haired vet as she disappeared into the inky black hallway behind him. The iron door squeaked shut with a huge crash, light becoming faint, the only from a cigarette the old vet was smoking. She strolled along, the darkness soon enveloping everything. She slowly shuffled through the pitch black tunnel hoping not to trip on something. Suddenly she was surrounded in an ominous red light. As a stream of light scanned her Zoey sat still, she had gone through the routine countless times. The light turned off and a fluorescent light above blinded her. Her arm instinctively shielded her eyes, she could hear the hidden door unlocking slowly. Her eyes soon acclimated to the light; she took the opportunity to observe the surrounding sewer. There were still shell casings from the old battles inside when the ISA stopped the infiltrating Helghast. The bullet pocketed walls stained with aging blood were now covered in various messages that the ISA engineers left when they tried to cap off the tunnels following the fighting. _'Who ever thought they could cut off the tunnels has to be the brightest bastard ever.'_

The hidden door finally unlocked and a large section of the concrete wall swung open slowly. Zoey stood patiently as the light outside turned off. Walking into the small doorway, Zoey went into a series of dark and cramped rooms filled with leaking steam and an unbearable heat. From what some of the Helghast guerillas have told her it was really similar to the slums of Helghan san the toxic air, the sewers outside nearly made up for it. As she walked to her briefing room she passed many wounded individuals on stretchers, filling every unused spot. The unceasing coughing and moans echoing down the metal walls of the hall as medics tried their best to aid them. Finally passing the wounded Vektans and Helghast she entered a large room illuminated by glaring red lights. Walking past the many technicians and tacticians manning the computer terminals all along the walls she walked up to the large table in the center. She stopped behind a figure bent over the map filled table, snapping to attention. Her quick stomp on the metal grating grabbed the officer's attention, the large figure turned around. "Shadow Guard Rogers reporting for duty, Captain Skorzeny."

"Glad you arrived Zoey; we have a fun mission just for you." The scarred insurgent leader reached to one of the many filing cabinets beneath the table. He opened one of the doors and browsed through the hundreds of folders. "Here we go." He lifted up one of the folders and handed it to the waiting shadow guard. She browsed though it well the commander continued to brief her. "Now your main objective is to deliver the package to the military hospital right outside the Capital Square. Once delivered you are to proceed back to the nearest safe house. From there you will be transferred."

"Sir, where will I be transferred to?" The captain grabbed a photo from the table and handed it to her.

"You will meet up with one of the guerilla raider contingents; they need your talents for a mission. The man you will contact with is Victor Zorta, he will transport you to them. However your main objective is the delivery." She handed back the photo.

"Yes, sir." She closed her dossier. "And if I am going to be captured?"

"You know the drill madam." Zoey felt the twenty pounds of plastic explosives and razors blades that was strapped all over her body. "Now you better get moving, use the exit North 5, the ISA has failed to blow that tunnel."

"Yes, sir!" She sketched a final salute before hurrying down the hall, making sure to grab the package.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Vekta**

**Vekta City**

**May 24, 2360**

**1200 Hours**

Zoey was causally walking down the now busy street. Dressed in business attire, a white blouse and a long skirt, she mixed into the crowd of office employees on their way to lunch. To accommodate the tighter attire she had moved kill vest to strictly along her inner thigh, it was not enough to take out large crowds, but enough to stop her capture. She looked over the crowd; the hospital was a hundred yards down the road. Right now the internal security troops from the UCN was having extreme difficulty finding anyone, the checkpoints throughout the city were easy to bypass. She continued to squeeze through the crowd, making sure her grip was firm around the briefcase that held the special package. She adjusted her bun that contained her hair. A pair of security troops stared at her as she passed, debating if they should stop her and do a body search to see if she had any 'weapons'. Even behind their pure black riot-proof mask she could feel their piercing glare. _'Maybe trying to look sexy was not the greatest idea ever, but what tacticians say goes.' _Zoey was not a particularly pretty Vektan but that didn't matter to the UCN.She thanked God when they didn't stop her and returned to gazing out onto the rest of the crowd.

She approached the hospital and ducked out into the alley it formed with the office next door. She walked down the empty alley and approached the drop off. She propped the briefcase against the wall and opened it up. The trash bags around her block the blue light that emitted from the open brief case. _'Who knew death could look so pretty.' _Zoey started to set the timer on the bomb. She was half way done with arming the petrusite bomb when she heard a familiar voice. Quickly she closed the case and began to walk back towards the street when two security guards from earlier walked into the alley; she quickly turned around and headed the other way, the clanking of her high heels increasing in speed. The two ominous figures followed her as she approached the other end of the alley; two figures appeared at that end. Cut off she looked for another exit, only a door into the hospital was there. She desperately tried to open it to no avail. _'Fuck me!' _She looked back and forth at the approaching pairs. Her hand reached into her pocket, fingering the kill switch to the explosives strapped over her legs. The four troopers surrounded her, escape would be hopeless. Putting on an alluring smile and hoping for the best she turned to the highest ranking guard.

"Can I help you boys?" She bent towards him, using her cleavage to the maximum effectiveness. It worked to a degree; the guard failed to make eye contact and took a few seconds to respond.

"Umm… We will need to do a weapon search ma'am, we have reasonable suspicion." Knowing what the search entitled Zoey was prepared, she just hoped they were lying through their teeth and wouldn't be too through. The security guards reached for her chest. Zoey quickly pulled away, planning on making this quick, and hoping they didn't want too much.

"Let me help you boys." She slowly backed up from the group as she unbuttoned her blouse. Now with all four guards to one side she finished unbuttoning and spread open her blouse, hoping that none of the explosives would be unveiled. The guards gawked at her lace bra. She gave them a questioning look, they quickly nodded, one pulling out a camera. _'Douchebag' _She reached back to its straps, the guards moving closer. She glanced back when she finished unstrapping, looking forward she dropped her bra. The guards were hypnotized at her exposed breast; she could tell from their body language they weren't going to stop at this. Her plan of appeasement had backfired completely.

She was about to run when a guard grabbed her and threw her against the wall, her forehead hitting with a crack, blood gushing from her scalp started to blur her vision. Her bun was undone, her messy hair dangling down her neck. Before the guards could proceed removing with her remaining clothing a nurse walked out the door a few feet away. The nurse at first just stared at the four UCN security guards surrounding the topless girl.

"Hey assholes, get away from her." One looked up from his conquest.

"What are you going to do you little bitch? Fuck off!" She stepped towards him, her faces inches from his.

"Your CO is in the hospital right now for the PR. I could, I don't know, direct the damn press out here. I'm sure your CO would fucking love that. Now if you fucking cocksuckers don't want to be court marshaled straight to hell you will leave this women the fuck alone!" Surprised at the nurses vocabulary and her seemingly legitimate threat the men let go of Zoey.

"Roy, let's get out of here. I hear the gals on the south side are so much easier and aren't just teases." The four men trotted off, leaving the nurse and Zoey all alone in the alley. The nurse tried to approach her as Zoey picked up her blouse well still trying to cover up as much exposed skin as possible, Zoey just raised her hand to her, signaling her to not bother. She buttoned up her torn blouse, not even bothering to touch her bra; it was destroyed by the foot of one of the guards. The nurse finally spoke.

"Are you okay hun?" Zoey finished with her buttons before speaking.

"Yeah, I am fine." The nurse doubted it.

"Do you want to come in? We could treat some of your cuts or at least give you a coffee." Zoey tied her into her usual ponytail.

"I'm good." She finished brushing away the grim from her blouse. "By the way, how you learn all that?"

The nurse blushed slightly. "Well I do work around soldier all day. So what's your name?" Zoey glanced to the briefcase before answering.

"Zoey, how 'bout yours?"

"Just call me Rachael." The nurse crossed her arms, projecting a concerned look.

"Well, then Rachael. I hope to see you around sometime, take care." Zoey turned around and was about to walk away in the opposite direction when she stopped in her tracks. She looked back, "Actually there is something you can do for me. Do you have a hoodie I could use?" Zoey pointed out the torn blouse, copious amounts of skin was visible.

"Of course Zoey, one sec hun." The nurse walked back inside. Zoey used this as an opportunity to finish arming the briefcase. She closed it, covering it up with one of the numerous trash bags. She leaned against the wall, thinking about how close she was to flipping her kill switch. _'I said I could be disguised as a soldier or nurse but nooooo, that would have drawn too much attention. Next time I should just ignore those fuckers underground and do what I spent the past two training to do.' _A Helghast Shadow Guard had taught her the art of infiltration. She looked down at her torn bra and the bits of fabric from her torn top. '_I swear to fucking God if another fucking UCN looks at me I will fucking give them a hug and blow this fucking vest.' _It hadn't been the first time she was assaulted by the UCN and she didn't have anyone to help her. It was just a regular part of life now, the UCN security teams were God. Shuddering at the memories she then pulled out a cigarette she kept stored in her kill vest. _'Note to self: Don't try to look sexy next time. Goddamn UCN is not fun to be with if they want to do a fucking cavity search.'_ Renee finally came back out; Zoey inhaled a final breath as the nurse pulled it out of her mouth. The nurse waved it in front of her.

"You know these will kill you?" For such a young woman the nurse sure knew how to look like a mother.

"I know, I know, along with your friendly neighborhood UCN guard. Now can I have my shirt, I really want to go home and forget about this." Rachael sighed, tossing the cigarette on the ground before handing Zoey a worn red hoodie.

"I also got you some jeans; they go better with it than your skirt. Now take care will ya?" Zoey slid the hoodie on, going ahead and taking off the ruined blouse afterwards. She then put on the worn jeans; to her surprise it was actually a decent fit.

"Sure." Zoey turned and walked away, giving a small flick of the wrist as she disappeared around the corner. Rachael watched all the way to the point where she is out of sight. With a sigh she walked back inside.

Zoey was a few blocks away when the hospital exploded in a blue light. _'Such a nice women, almost a shame.' _She didn't look back towards the former building that held thousands of sick vets and hundreds of nurses and doctors, plus the staff and visitors. All around her people poured out into the streets, running in a panic. The dust from the explosion slowly bellowed down the street, engulfing the crowd in sooty darkness. Suddenly other buildings went up too. The sun was essentially obscured by dust and smoke. Walking nonchalant down the street she saw a pair of security guards grab onto a ten year old girl in the crowd. There was a flash and Zoey was suddenly knocked down by a blast. She slowly got up, brushing off rubble and what had to be someone's former hand. She looked at a crater where a group of people once was, realizing what had hapened. _'Almost killed by one of our people, how fucking fantastic.' _She thought back to the scene from a few seconds ago, trying to remember if the guards that caught the small terrorist were the ones from earlier._ 'What a pity, they were the wrong ones.' _She brushed off the bits of gore and dust on her jeans before proceeding towards the safe house. She was careful not to spear any of the bits of people that were strewn around the small crater with her heels.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Vekta **

**Extraterrestrial Defense Station Beta**

**May 24, 2360**

**1600 Hours**

Sgt. Welkans looked out the window of his drop ship, Vengeance. There were endless fields of grain and pastures full of a Vektan native herd animal. Welkans never bothered learning their name; he only knew they were only remedially tastier than the insects he ate on Helghan. The ship was no more than ten feet off the ground. It was in close formation with the six other ships in the strike force. He gave a sigh; the vast Vektan greenery was still quite stunning even after two years. He looked from the endless green pastures to his squad.

They were two men and two women. They were all decked in a hybrid of their old military uniforms and kludged parts, some more armored than others. Only one wore the standard helmet and mask. Instead the others wore an array of odd headgear. Lizard, the squad marksman wore aviators and an aging Stetson. He took a drag from his cigarette as he tugged at his light armor, little more than his BDU and a vest for holding the ammo to his high caliber hunting rifle. He looked over to his leader his glasses and the five rounds on his hat gleaming in the light. His glance was questioning but seeing the sergeant not respond he went back to his mindless staring.

Welkans moved on to the next in line, a Shadow Guard called Shark. Unlike most shadow guards she was not trained in the art of disguise but rather stalking from the shadows, much like the Shadow Marshals of the ISA. She wore a pair of goggles she got off of a Shadow Marshal she choked out, however she tweaked them red for easy identification. She simply had a hood that enveloped her whole head, the red glow of her goggles shining lightly though the fabric. She added inch thick sheets of steel to her forearms to protect her precious arms. She also had a thick plate of steel over her heart. _'Not like she has one.'_ He glanced away from the ice queen.

On the other side was Alpha, he knew how to blow shit up good. He was the only one wearing a helmet, mainly for safety precautions. He had enough scrap metal adorning his body to make a full sized car. On top of his high tech car part and trash bag armor was strap after strap of explosives and shotgun shells. In his hand was a quad barrel shotgun he picked it up off of some farmer after his old rocket launcher went out of ammo. It was quite impressive and its massive size matched his imposing figure. Alpha was staring at a tattered photo of a woman in a cheap respirator holding three newborns. The poor bastard had a wife and three kids back on Helghan.

Lastly was Specter. She was bent over into the cockpit, checking in on the pilot of their baby, Vengeance. Her BDUs had the additional leather reinforcements at all the joint. A red eyed skull and cross bones was painted on to her back, their motto underneath, _Never Forgive_. Not quite an evolved Helghan she did not have the steely blonde and blue-eyed features. Instead she had long black hair and dark red eyes, almost matching the crimson of their goggles perfectly. Her features were slightly rough, but her youth hid most of them. Her mouth was hidden by a mask across her lower face, decorated by a skull mouth and teeth mirroring her face. Exiting the cockpit she walked back to the seats and placed her StA-52 to the side, the under barrel shotgun snagging on a strap. After untangling it she turned to the sergeant.

"The pilot says we have three minutes till we are in range. Flak should start up soon." She made sure to strap into her seat tight, AA fire on drop ships was not a fun experience. On cue the other members of his squad strapped up. Seconds later ground forces opened fire. At first it was simply rifle fire from some giddy security forces on the ground. Soon heavy machine guns and flak guns started to fire. The formation quickly rose up; there were now towers and other structures to crash into. This opened them up to more fire. The small arms fire just bounced off the armor but the real heavy stuff was not harmless. Fifty cal rounds started to walk their way along the bottom of Vengeance. The rounds punched neat holes in the bottom and lodged themselves somewhere in the ceiling, somehow not taking out anything important. The flak was causing the ship to bounce every which way. Welkans heard Alpha moan under his mask but the large man held down his lunch.

The red light came on; at the signal the squad got out of their seat and strapped themselves into the rope system. Welkans looked out the window; the farm land was now a space port with the largest guns he has ever seen. They were over two hundred yards in length and had an extensive structure network about it. These cannons were meant to fire into space and take out cruisers orbiting the planet in far orbit. Despite the inefficiency of the system they were an adequate supplement of the broken down orbital defense array. The ship slowed down next to one of the cannons, the weapons on board firing away on a few of the ground personnel. The light turned green and the doors slid open. Suddenly soldier on the ground opened fire, the rounds cracking past Welkans as he slid down the rope. Before he could shot back the Vengeance's guns hit the man in the pelvis, cutting off his legs. As the man screamed in his two pieces Welkans gave the pilot a thumb up as he unstrapped the rope. He quickly ran from the exposed concrete ground to the nearest cover. He slid behind a bulldozer, his squad following him there. Lizard fired off a round towards an approaching car; the driver slumped over and it quickly veered and ran into stack of fuel barrel, the contents splashing on the soldiers inside. They tried to escape but before they could get far Lizard loaded up a tracer round and fired at the group. The soldiers ran around as they were enveloped in shroud of fire. After a little bit they finally dropped to the ground, the flame still was burning.

Welkans finally found their objective, the fourth of the six heavy cannons. "Delta, we are moving!" He motioned to the objective. Shark and Specter ran first. Only a few rounds came towards them, Lizards covering fire made sure of that. The two women ran up the stairs to the entrance of one of the buildings surrounding it. Shark started to place a charge on the door when bullets started to riddle through it from the inside, one round pierced Shark's arm. The blood started to squirt but quickly subsided to a slow leaking. It was not life threatening and her training made her completely ignore the pain. Pissed off she set off the charge and ran through the door, her training did not cover anger management. The soldier who shot her was lying on the floor, covered in blood seeping from cuts from all the shrapnel. Blood was pooling from a large chunk of steel still stuck in his stomach, he desperately tried to stop the internal organs from seeping out, screaming for his mother.

"Die you fucking son of a bitch!" She pulled out a sawed-off shotgun that was standard now for guerillas. She shoved it in his open mouth; his eyes went up, the tearing features turning to fear. The tears quickly disappeared as they flew onto the wall, the entire head disappearing in the blast. His lower jaw and part of his ear still hung from his neck as he slowly slumped over; the blood from his missing cranium turning her mask a dark red, accenting the glowing red of her goggles. Still in her rage she continued to kick the warm corpse, more blood flying from his corpse. "What the fuck… entitled… you… to do this?" Blood flew from every wound with each kick, the crimson droplets decorating the steel floors. Specter grabbed onto her bleeding arm.

"Clam the fuck down! Now is not the time for one of your rampages?" She pulled out some rags and tried to stop some of the bleeding.

"Why bother, it doesn't even hurt?" She tried to pull her arm away but Specter grabbed it again.

"It might not hurt but we need you alive, we don't want you to bleed out on us." She was tying it when two ISA soldiers ran down the hall way. Without looking up Specter pulled out a pistol and shot both in the chest. As the two soldiers fell down, their life pouring from a gaping hole in their chest. She went on with her work, never breaking pace.

Outside the three men decided it was best to run without the signal, the ISA had a tank working its way towards them. They ran to the stair, careful not to trip on the twisted chunk of metal that was once a door. They ran up the stairs, seeing a small pool of blood near the entrance. Welkans gave the sign to stop. They peered inside, trying to figure out what happened. A Helghast drop ship veered down on a strafing run, the volume of screams increased slightly afterwards. Seeing only their squad mates they walked in. Greeting them was a headless corpse, blood seemingly oozing from every pore. Welkins then noticed that Shark was wounded.

"What the hell happened here?" Specter spoke up.

"Well we were setting up a breaching charge when this asshole-" She pointed to the bloody corpse, "- shot her through the door. Then our Shadow got into her psycho-bitch mode and blew the charge well I was still next to it. She promptly destroyed the bastard who shot her and here we are, a hole in her arm, a bit of shrapnel cuts on me and a shitload of blood, oh and those two dead bastards." Welkins tried to play the events in his mind, but he needed to finish the mission.

"Well then. Shark, stay here with Lizard and hold the door. Alpha take point, we need to find the ammo store and blow it to hell. Now let's move it." The squad did as told. Alpha ran down the hall, his shotgun ready to shred anyone that dares pop up. The run down the hall was rather uneventful though. The only thing that happened was the difficulty finding the damn room, their written English was rough and they didn't know the layout of the base.

"Here we are." Alpha stopped in front of a large door with a symbol for explosive and a lot of no smoking stickers. He cracked open the door and peeked in. He then slowly stumbled back, his face in awe. "Oh my fucking God…" Welkans grabbed onto the shocked, trying to find out what is wrong.

"What is there a ton of security?" Alpha walked to the door and started to tug it open.

"No, I think I found heaven." The door opened up and reviled row after row of shells that were the sizes of large houses. The explosion from all of it would probably wipe out the whole base and a lot of the surrounding farmland. Alpha was trying to tug off all of his explosives. Welkans gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Have at it boy! Just don't take too long, not sure when we will have some ISA on our ass or one of the other teams might accidently set off their charge early." Alpha ran to the first shell and started to prep the explosive. He put all of his explosives on the one; it was all that they needed. Welkans heard the sound of Lizard's rifle and Shark's StA-52's shotgun going off.

"Alpha pick it up, we have company." Specter was prepped to slaughter anything that entered the door. Alpha continued to work at a tenuous pace.

"You can't rush perfection, sir."

"And perfection can't stop a bullet, now pick up the pace!"

"Fine, I think it's done." He started to pack up his tools.

"Good, I'll call in our evac and then we can get the hell out of here." He pushed a button on his vest. This sent a signal to Vengeance to pick them up. "Now go!" They started to run down the hall when an unarmed man came out of a door. Welkans and Shark ran by him. Alpha however pumped two of his four rounds into the person's stomach. As he slumped over Alpha yelled out.

"Twenty points!" Specter stared at him in a quizzical fashion.

"Two, civvies are worth only two." Alpha shook his head.

"I am certain it was some scientist or lab tech. That is twenty." He received a glare.

"Whatever, I still have more overall." Her count was over nine thousand well Alpha was only at two. The argument raged on Fed up with the two argument Welkans yelled.

"Would you just shut up and pay attention! Besides I am still king of the company." His count was twenty thousand. The two soldiers just glared at him before going on with their run. They soon arrived at the door. Shark and Lizard was taking turns peeking out and trying to kill some of the approaching base security. Lizard looked up,

"What took you so long?"

"Alpha took his dear fucking time setting the charges. So what's the situation?" Two casings from Shark's StA-52 flew past his face, knocking off the ash at the end of his cigarette.

"We have about twenty base securities working their way towards us, but they don't seem apt to dying so some fire and they just stay put. The problem is two tanks patrolling the base and blowing everything to hell. Drop ships seem to be holding them at bay but AA is increasing and I'm not sure how much longer they will last. So what is the ETA to evac?" He quickly peered around the corner. He fired off on of the rounds from his fifty cal hunting rifle before quickly returning around the corner "Point!"

"We have about a minute till Vengeance arrives." Lizard just nodded before turning back around the corner. The cycle of Shark and lizard thinning the crowd continued till they heard the familiar sound of Vengeance. "Let's get out of here." He sparked a signal flare well the Vengeance did a strafing run the ship landed just outside the facility. The machineguns on it provided covering fire well his squad ran for the open doors. Before entering the ship Welkans looked at its front. The ship had eyes and menacing teeth painted on the front. Running past the smile that greeted those who were about to die, he went to the open door. On the open door was a standard Helghast pin-up girl painted on. The blonde, curvy beauty was in skintight leather that covers her body snugly. Her goggle and helmetless mask was sleeker and oddly sexy looking, her blonde hair flowing down her sleek figure. Beneath her was the full motto of all guerillas, _Never Forget, Never Forgive. _He jumped inside as the ship dusted off. The doors slid shut as the base security fired rounds towards the ship, most missing, some ricocheted through the cabin. The ship got off mainly unharmed. The copilot was tending to Shark's wound, the new bandage neater than Specter's handiwork. They still did strafing runs as the other squads tried to get to their ships, Alpha and Specter manning a turret.

When the last ship dusted off they all started to fly in the opposite direction of their actual base, the less the ISA knows the better. They were over seven clicks away from the base when command set off the charges. The sky turned red as a mushroom cloud formed behind them. The shock wave from it slung the unfastened Specter foreword, giving her a bloody nose. The ships in the formation did flips and rolls as the force of the explosion ravaged everything. The screaming from the crews subsided when it was all over. The setting sun was choked out by the huge column of smoke and ash. The silhouettes of the devastated barrels were still visible. For strictly conventional ordnance the shells had a hell of a punch. Alpha was first to speak.

"So what was the point totals for today?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-


	8. Chapter 7

**Planet Vekta**

**Our Lady Hope Military Hospital**

**May 24, 2360**

**1900 Hours**

UCN Internal Security Troop Command Supervisor of Domestic Intrusions, a long and overly complicated way of saying they supervised an investigation of fuck ups and terrorist attacks and took the necessary action to clean it up and prevent further problems. Theo McClellan happened to be one. Right now he was part of the massive fuck up that happened at approximately twelve twenty today. He shuffled through the ruins of the hospital, bodies contorted to hell from being electrocuted to death. The building falling apart didn't help the effects of the electrical pulse any. He had been briefed about the Helghast electrical weapons a few months back when the ISA Legionnaires first ran into them. He didn't realize how destructive some electricity could be. The aging Earthling nearly tripped on a hand that was out stretched from the rubble. He quickly tried to uncover the rest thinking the owner may be alive. He got only a few inches in before it was clear the owner of the hand was dead. It belonged to a formally beautiful nurse; her black hair was matted with blood, her face twisted in pain. Judging from the body's position and his rough knowledge of the hospitals layout he placed her somewhere near one of the side doors close to where the bomb went off. _'What a shame.'_

In disgust he walked over to one of the investigators outside the building. He was inside a white AAPC filled with a mini lab. Outside it was holographic yellow tape that cordoned off the waves of press and onlookers. There was a scene like this at every one of the attacks that had happened this day. This essentially cut off Capitol Square from the rest of the city. _'It is almost like they are taunting us.' _He walked up the ramp into the AAPC and walked next to a technician bent over a screen. "Simon, for the love of God, please tell me you've found something." The techy spun in his chair towards Theo.

"We might be in luck Commander, we have went ahead and pulled the security feed from the store across the street. I am pretty sure it shows who set up the bomb. Take a look for yourself." The computer screen in front of him turned to a clear black and white image. It fast-forwarded for a while, endless crowds passing in front of the alley. It slowed down when a young woman ducked into the alley. "That's her, sir." The figure continued into the alley and bent over behind some garbage bags. A bright light was emitting from the alley. Suddenly the girl got up and two UCN guards walked into the alley. She turned around the other way but was blocked off by two more guards. Well the girl stripped for them Theo asked a question.

"Can you get facial recognition on this video?" The guards on screen threw the now topless women against the wall. _'If she was Helghast I'd give them a medal. Terrorist is close though, worth a ribbon or a round at the bar.' _

"The video's quality is fine, sir. The problem is that we have nothing to scan. I have been through the video multiple times but she never looks at the camera. Either she is extremely lucky or she knows what she does. From her efficiency and calmness I am guessing she is a pro. My guess is that she is an affiliate of the Steel Legion and has had some pretty hardcore training." The Steel Legion was an insurgent group founded by remnants of the Helghan Corporation board members that stayed behind to make the UCN pay. It is now under the command of some Captain Skorzeny.

"How about off of the internal securities' visors?" Simon shook his head. A nurse walked out and broke up the group amassing around the exposed woman. Theo read her lips.

"Was there CO actually inside?" The technician turned around to a different computer and started to -sort through multiple pages. After a little searching he turned back around.

"The visitor's log says no and nearly all high ranking UCN officers have been accounted for, sir."

The technician fast-forwarded through their talking. He returned to normal speed after the alley was finally empty. The alley then went with a flash and the video scrambled.

"The electrical impulse from their petrusite really messes up electronics. That is all the footage we got, we are trying to lift finger prints off of the surroundings but I wouldn't hold your breath sir."

"Is there anything you can do?" Simon sighed and then he looked up and grinned.

"I guess I could do a composite sketch of her ass if that helps any." Theo simply faced palmed.

"Okay, give me a call if there are any developments. Also get me as much info on Steel Legions and Skorzeny. I want them bastards to bleed for fucking with us." Theo stormed out of the APC and walked back towards the ruins of the hospital. The setting sun over the dust shrouded capital produced a beautiful yet eerie effect. Then his comm link sounded, a report that guerillas had attacked over twenty instillations today came in. Friendly casualties estimated to be in the thousands well the guerillas lost only thirty or so. This and the terrorist attacks seem to be coordinated. _'What the hell is going on here?' _He dreaded of what would ensue. _'Better get the team together.' _Theo walked from the sunset to a car back to the lab. _'Whoever the fuck is doing this will wish they had never even thought of it.' _The UCN death squads were now starting the hunt back up after two years.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Vekta**

**Vekta City**

**May 25, 2360**

**0200 Hours**

Zoey had been in the safe house for what seemed forever. The seven shots of what was essentially turpentine helped in making it seem longer. The safe house was a small hidden room in the apartment of some half-Helghast in the slums. It might have seemed fairly obvious place for an insurgent but in the twenty odd searched the UCN did of the place; they never came close to finding it. Zoey shifted in her seat, the room was no more than five by five feet, the walls covered in weapons of various calibers and enough explosives to blow the block of the face of Vekta. It also came with a complementary shelf of super cheap whiskey and cigarettes plus an ancient liquid crystal television. Of course it only had three channels coming in but they worked for now. All of them were news stations and all they were going on about was the terrorist attacks from earlier. With a trace of pride her efforts got the most attention.

She took another shot of the low quality alcohol; it helped numb the more unfavorable events of the day. The front door to the apartment creaked open. She set down the shot glass and grabbed a twelve gauge off the wall. She cocked it and took up a defensive position in the small room. This basically was propping the chair against the door and getting out of the way of any bullets that would penetrate the door. After waiting for a few tense seconds someone knocked on the door.

"It's Zorta, open the door." With reluctance Zoey removed the chair and approach the door, the only handle was internal. She slowly reached for it, her shotgun still prepped to disembowel anyone who doesn't ask before entering. Her hand overshot the handle by a considerable distance. _'Maybe those shots weren't the best idea ever.' _After two more tries she willed her hand on the handle and eased the door open. A tall blonde man greeted her.

"Come here often?" Zoey opened the door all the way now, regretting drinking so much.

"I am fine thank you Miss Rogers. Congrats on the mission by the way, the light show was really impressive." The man walked over to a shelf and grabbed a bottle of unmarked alcohol. Taking a sniff he pulled away from it instantly. "How can you drink this shit?" Zoey shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, it is cheap and it gets the job done."

"On Helghan our alcohol is actually decent and we are forced to make it out of fucking rotted insects." Zoey stumbled back into her chair. "

So what do you need me for?" Victor set down the bottle and started to browse the stands of weapons.

"We need your expertise for a mission in a few days." Zoey rolled her eyes.

"I am looking for details bub." She picked up the bottle of whiskey and started to drink straight from the bottle.

With a sigh Victor turned to Zoey. "We need you infiltrate the UCN HQ here in Vekta City."

Zoey spit out the contents of her mouth and threw the bottle against the ground. "Are you fucking CRAZY?"

"Skorzeny said you were best the terrorist-"

"Umm, we prefer the term insurgents or insurrectionaries." Victor rolled his eyes.

"The best the insurgents had when it comes to Shadow Guards so I thought you could handle it, plus we will be sending some of our own shadows in. Besides it's not like we won't have a distraction going on during all of this. Why else would the mighty Helghast Army be involved in an intel raid."

At this point Zoey regretted breaking her only source of alcohol; instead she just lit up one of the cheap cigarettes. "What type of distraction?"

The Helghast restrained from telling her too much in the unsecure location. "Let's just say that the fatherland has been able to smuggle us some heavier gear that isn't too conspicuous." Zoey, a Vekta City native, found the term, fatherland, rather alien.

"What, did they ship you a tank that fits in a suit case?"

"Not exactly Miss Rogers." He walked to the door and made sure that the owner was not in earshot. "Now I need to know, are you in?" Zoey inhaled her cigarette once more.

"What the hell, why not?" She stood up, or at least tried. "So what do I do now?"

"Just follow me. We have a base just outside the city. We can give you the full briefing there."

"So when is it show time?" The two started to walk out of the apartment that hid the safe house.

"You have about five days." Victor slipped his arm around Zoey's waist. She refrained from punching him out; it was a decent cover for this time of night. Plus she had some difficulty walking straight at this moment. She turned towards him, her red nose illuminated by the glaring neon lights.

"By the way, why are we doing all this right now?" Victor continued to stare onward, ignoring the young lady he had in his arms. They passed another young couple stumbling along. He let out a sigh.

"Let's just say that weapons aren't the only thing the fatherland is sending here." Zoey tried to grasp what he meant but her clouded mind hurt when she tried to think. _'God, tomorrow morning is going to be hell.' _Whatever the Helghast meant Zoey could care less. She had a mission to accomplish.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Vekta **

**Moscow City**

**May 29, 2360**

**2100 Hours**

Welkans was standing at the outskirts of Moscow City, one of the locations of the ten space elevators on Vekta. The jet bike he had at idle was armed to the teeth with two StA-3s mounted on the front. Beside him were over two hundred other guerillas on the same vehicle. Further back was a large fleet of Overlord drop ships turned heavy weapon platforms, light air to air fighter bombers and standard Overlord vessels for their reinforcements and toys. A single flare went off, looking like the first star visible at twilight.

The light fighters went first. They zoomed past the line of guerillas, the force of their pulse jets kicking up tremendous amounts of dirt. He heard a dull thud when they dropped the payload, five thousand pounds of napalm. The night sky brightened with the rising clouds of fire. The aircraft then rose up from the smoldering ground and started to fire upon the elevator. So far there were no enemy aircraft.

His comm went off and signaled them to go. Welkans, his squad and the hundreds of other jet bikes rocketed down the roads of the adjacent suburbs towards the city. At an obscene speed they charged into the city. He and nine other bikes filled the street. The air was causing his uniform to flap furiously. What it did to Specter's hair would be entertaining. Overhead modified Overlord gunships screeched forwards and started to strafe the streets. The combination of four chainguns and two rocket pods tore the few cars to shreds. What it did to the many civilians scrambling in the roads was even less pretty. Welkans had the jet bike rise up to avoid hitting any of the carnage. At this speed hitting anything squishy would mean cleaning his uniform countless times.

The city slowly progressed from apartments and office buildings to warehouses as the swarm of jet bikes approached the port. There were the remains of fences around the facility but the drop ships had cleared them out well before the bikes came close. He flew past warehouse after warehouse, half of which were still burning from the napalm. Suddenly the windows of the warehouses were illuminated by enemy fire. He swerved as bullets from the unseen attackers sparked off of the pavement. Searchlights on top the warehouses came alive and blinded the approaching bikes. One of the bikes next to Welkans was hit, careening into the doors of one of the warehouses. The plum of fire made sure none of his remains were ever recovered.

Welkans tried to swing the mount of his StA-3s upward but the mount was stuck. He struggled with the mount as bullets cracked by his head. A Searchlight came upon him, the halo of light making him an obvious target for everyone on the roofs. With a heavy hit the mount finally gave and turned upwards. He pulled the trigger; dual lines of tracers flew towards the roofs of the warehouses. At the speed he was going he couldn't tell if he was hitting anything. He must have when a searchlight went up into flames, he must have done something. He just hoped the ISA would duck before they could kill him.

Suddenly in front of him an AAPC came careening from the elevator and swerved out across the street and opened fire on them. More bikers fell at the hand of the gunner as ISA soldiers poured out the vehicle's back. The ISA soldiers formed across the street and opened fire on the approaching enemy. The Helghast opened up with their twin StA-3s causing some to fall. Another biker exploded in flames when they were less than a hundred yards away. Out of nowhere an unmanned dump truck slammed into the side of the AAPC at high speed. The collision was a sickening crunching of metal as the AAPC slide out of the street and onto its side. The dump truck went flying, exploding in a ball of flames when it landed. As Welkans speed by, he saw ragtag soldiers pour out of a side alley, firing upon the ISA soldiers. They moved forwards, overwhelming the few remaining ISA soldiers. As he passed he saw one of the insurgents give him a thumbs up before hurling a Molotov at the enemy.

They finally broke into the compound. He quickly stopped and jumped off his bike onto the barren concrete plains that surrounded the elevator and waited for the rest of his squad. They slowed but hopped off with their biked still moving. The bikes went on to hit an entrance to the base beneath the elevator, engulfing exiting RRFs in flames. The lieutenant of the Welkans platoon started to scream orders across the comm.

"Listen up, we have to secure the elevator. To do that we need more men, armor and air support. We can't get that till we blow those fucking AA guns to hell and gone. Be careful, there is a whole lot of fucking RRFs and Marines under our feet. They have entrances to the surface all over this damn concrete plain. They can easily appear behind us and turn this into a damn killzone. Now get moving and watch your flanks!"

The platoon started to move forward. They shifted between the few items of cover on the tarmac. The AA turrets in the distance fired away at the swarms of Overlords above them, the tracers were like fireworks that Welkans had heard of when he was a wee young lad on Helghan.

"Lizard, try to crown them bitches."

"With fucking pleasure." He entered a fifty caliber BMG round into his chamber and raised the big game gun to his shoulder. Fired a round at the first turret, Welkans could see it ricochet off the cannons body. He loaded up another round and fired again. Once again it missed.

"Damn it, you're going down you fucking bastard." He stood up and fired another round, missing again. All the worse one of the huge AA armaments swung towards them.

"Oh… shit…" The huge forty millimeter flack tore at the assaulting Helghast. A round hit a man over ten yards away from Welkans' squad. The guerilla instantly exploded like a water balloon of crimson slush, his helmet flew straight up. Even at the distance the red mist from him floated towards them and dotted the uniforms of his squad. The helmet landed next to Welkans after a full minute.

"Holy shit! Keep moving, we have to get closer!" The lone turret continued to strafe down the line, whole squads being obliterated in seconds.

A stray round exploded near his squad, a piece of shrapnel tore through Shark's arm, less than an inch away from her previous wound. She swore as she grabbed the wound.

"You fuckers are going to die." Before anyone could do stop her Shark disappeared into the dark. With a sigh Welkans just carried on. As the turret swung to a different platoon assaulting from the opposite direction the tattered remains of the platoon moved forwards, trying to get in range to toss some of their grenades. His lieutenant was a few yards behind the squad. He was yelling for the platoon to move forward.

"If we don't get close we are fucke-" There was a wet splat and the lieutenant's constant stream of commands stopped. Welkans looked back to find a headless commander stumbling around before toppling over a concrete barricade.

"Well, we're royally fucked." One of the other sergeants took command and moved the soldiers forward. They slowly moved advanced. RRFs and marines were trying to flank them. The RRF fell quickly, they were hardly better at fighting than a traffic cop. The marines proved to be a different story. Their heavy armor was a pain to punch through. Specter took the head off on of the helmetless soldiers. She turned to him and pointed to a turret.

"Sarge, looky!" The turret that had been harassing them had abruptly stopped firing. He then saw a slim figure hop inside the turret as it swung towards the other AA turrets still focused on the drop ships. _'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' _Shark opened up on the unsuspecting enemy. The other turrets went up in flames as Shark fires round after round of the exploding flack into them. Then the area was bathed in light when she hit a munitions dump. Welkans could feel the searing heat all the way over from his position. She then turned it towards the remaining marines and opened fire.

"How do you like the taste of your own fucking medicine?" He opened fire on the now retreating _and _exploding ISA.

"I personally find it bitter-sweet, Sarge." Welkans couldn't help but smile at Specters comment. Alpha was now partially deaf from his shotgun just smiled to fit in. The sergeant now in command radioed in the update. Transports quickly flew in. The ships hovered as soldiers slide down the ropes. Most dropped off more soldiers, a few Overlords carried in tanks in a modified mounting area in the former cabin. The tank was dropped from standard rappelling height but its repulsion system allowed it to land softly. One carried kennels holding dozens of dogs. Once released the dogs charged for entrances to the elevator. Their barks faded as they ran away, the sounds of screams became prominent.

Turning his attention to the new soldiers and armor Welkans squad joined the group; Shark had slipped back in unnoticed. The bulk of the force formed a wedge shape behind the hover tanks as they advanced towards the towering elevator. Enemy fire was not particularly heavy; the air support had taken out most of the turrets and other defensive positions. The circling Overlord gunships helped suppress the enemy further.

Welkans platoon was task with taking the base under the elevator. It could contain vital intel and it would be extremely difficult to quickly capture, destroy and evacuate with soldier always appearing from beneath. They tried to enter but the ISA had turrets and defensive positions in place. A random person in the platoon spoke up.

"Hey Sergeant Socrans, I think I have a way in." The sergeant in charge let him speak out his idea. It was devilish and very unethical, a good Helghast plan. The battle at the elevator raged on as the platoon gathered the necessary items to win. Well some were gathering supplies from the surroundings Alpha led a group of demolitionist on a hunt for other entrances. They blew every one of them up except for the one. All the materials were in place. Welkans made sure to step back.

"Light her up." At Socrans' command an engineer started an enormous ISA engine for one of their cruisers. The huge engine slowly roared to life, its exhaust aimed directly down the door towards the waiting ISA. The intense heat and overall force cooked the ISA inside. The engine's roar grew to the point where it overpowered the ISA's screams; either that or they were dead already. The asphalt near the entrance exploded in flames instantly, and then the concrete started to crack as water inside instantly boiled. The ungodly roar slowly stopped when the sergeant signaled for the switch to be flipped. A lift they 'borrowed' from the ISA hauled the giant engine away from the entrance. Welkans squad was the first to enter the charred hole. The metal door was now a pool of red goo on the ground. They continued into the smoldering entrance. The walls were charred and the skeletons of the ISA were blackened. The smell was absolutely hellacious, a constant stream of cloudy black smoke poured out and a killer humidity.

"Reminds me of home." Walking on into the tunnel they only encountered cooked meat and pools of molten plastic. Parts of the building was still buring. "Yep, defiantly like home." They finally got into the control room. It was like every other room. Welkans got on the comm. "Socran, doesn't look like we will get anything out of this place. This place is burnt worse than an oil refinery on Arson's Day."

"Understood Welkans, go ahead and get out of there. We need evac this place real quick. ISA can't be too happy about this."

By the time the squad came out of the hot, moist hole most of the guerrillas were in line to make a quick exit. The Overlords were carrying out everyone, the bikes were expendable. His squad quickly filed into one of them. It was something every soldier was used to. It was boring though. The lights at the compound were shot out so you couldn't even stare at anything. The only sounds were chit-chat between guerrillas, the continuous drone of drop ships and the familiar sound of gun fire far away in the industrial district. The insurgents must be still mopping up the ISA. There was also a distinct lack of people to socialize with. Alpha was hanging out with some of the other demolition experts. Lizard was talking with Specter about random crap. Shark was just standing by here self. Welkans tried to talk but she just stared him down. _'Oh well…' _

Suddenly a friend approached. The glowing eyes came closer its wagging tail greeting Welkans. "Here boy!" The dog became fully visible. In his mouth was an arm of some ISA soldier. "Who's a good boy?" Welkans started to scratch the dog's blood matted ear. The arm dropped to his feet with a wet smack as the dog started to pant. A whistle went off and the dog's glowing eyes turned towards the source. "You did a good job today boy. Now it's time to go home." The hound picked up its prize and trotted towards its drop ship.

The Vengeance soon arrived. _'Thank Visari.' _The craft landed with a soft thud. The pin-up girl on the side slid open, revealing the cabin. "Everyone get on." The squad quickly filed onto the ship. The doors slide shut and the craft lifted off. They sped past the burning remains of Moscow City on their way back to base. Welkans looked back on the towering elevator. _'Pity I won't watch that baby fall. Would been a hell of a lot better than that AA battery.'_ He walked away from the small opening and sat down in his seat. He wondered if there was anything bigger to blow to hell.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N: Would you kindly review this chapter? I would appreciate it. Any suggestions or questions would be gladly accepted too. Only one chapter left till the invasion. Expect a lot of action in the next one and it to be extra-long, a lot is going to be happening.

-Sir Robert the VI, Ph.D.


	9. Chapter 8

**Planet Helghan**

**Steel Square, Constantine City**

**June 1, 2360**

The lavishly decorated square in front of the new capital of Helghan was an impressive sight. Well it did lack the obscene amounts of banners and posters of its predecessor it did have an adequate amount of propaganda. Stahl was never a fan of the red that Visari relished so much. Just black and white looked fine. Keep it simple and clean. The red also reminded the people too much of the blood shed recently.

From the balcony of his new steel and glass building Stahl was able to see the sheer beauty of the new nation he controlled. The new capital building was quite modern and fitted the taste of Stahl much more than the regal palaces of the previous government. He readjusted his heavy coat, winter was starting to set in on the new capital. _'And just when I finally escaped that fucking barren ice land.' _ Around the square of extravagant stone buildings was thousands of cheering Helghast. The military parade he had marching down the square was unmatched compared to the Visari's or the shit Orlock had called a rally. It contained nearly all the remaining soldiers of Helghan and was accompanied by a plethora of new additions. Besides the many Helghast marching were multiple platoons of ISCN troops. The crowd was not overly ecstatic for them but it was good PR for his new alliance. Currently some Lalandes marching gracefully down the square, their march a smooth and quiet ordeal. Their gear looked primitive next to the newest Helghast tech but it did rate rather high on scary as hell scale. Their white wrappings fluttered in the breeze. Their glowing eyes did match the Helghast mask though, especially when they wear their goggles they wear on brighter planets. They were also the second most inhospitable colony next to Helghan, they would probably be the first that the Helghast accept fully.

Now a platoon of Madam Visari's personal guard entered the square. Madam Visari, who was standing to his side straightened up as the crowds cheered at their new armor from Visari Corp. A slight smile broke out on her normally blank face, her trench coat fluttering in the breeze. When Madam Visari joined him she willing give a surprisingly large amount of older tech over to the Legions but she offered to combine the research with Stahl Arms. At first Stahl assumed she only wanted to steal all of his designs but once he saw all her new tech he changed his mind quickly. When it came to petrusite the two arms companies took radically different approaches.

Well Stahl focused on irradiating the electric material Visari had tried to refine it. They put it through centrifuges that split the petrusite down to a completely new isotope. This isotope emitted a constant aura of a bizarre energy, much like the irradiated, creating a bright red glow. VC scientists call it 'pure' petrusite even though Stahl's men are pretty sure they are wrong about it. They too put the new material into a gun, called the VC-224E, nicknamed Banshee by the soldiers for an ear bleeding screech the pure petrusite beam creates. However, rather than being a slow moving ball of plasma their new material produced a thin stream of essentially pure energy, much like a laser that has failed to prove to be an effective weapon. Unlike a laser, the beam it emitted was organic in nature and would freely curve and arc around, much like electricity, and seek out the enemy much like the STA-5X or VC-5. Unlike the StA-5X or VC-5, the beam burnt a neat little hole into the enemy. This was usually not lethal but the beam would quickly arc back on the target and punch through it again and again and again, slowly envelope the enemy in the beam until it is reduced to a pile of charred little meat chunks. Stahl had been rather impressed by the live fire display.

There were many other interesting applications. There was a whip like weapon that proved to work out well for Capture Troopers. Then there were the defense applications. It could be used in countless fashions for protecting a hallway or base much like the irradiated petrusite. There were grenade and landmine applications. It was used on VC's heavy armor class. This matter would form a semi-effective force field against people and be used as a power generator. This added a demonic crimson aura around the new design. The newest armor looked like a black version of the samurai of Earth from a millennium ago. It was almost to Earth like for Stahl's taste but Visari had been a fan of the style, to the point where a samurai-esque Helghast was featured on his memorial. The red beams would randomly arc between the points of the armor and was almost as intimidating as a PMSing Lalande.

Stahl returned from his thoughts to the parade. The armor columns were now rolling down the square. The crowds cheering continued to envelope the square. It was a stark contrast form the violence and rioting from the previous weeks. Stahl just hoped his little show would be enough to convince the UCN that the Helghast were still on Helghan and were stronger than ever. Stahl got up from the railings and walked back inside the new building. Madam Visari followed. The main reason for the whole parade, besides fooling the UCN and ISCA PR, was to get even greater public support. Even though the new republic was to be democratic Stahl still wanted enough power to influence the government. To do this he made special provisions in the still under construction constitution. Essentially it allowed major government related firms to have a major part in control of funds. This gave Visari Corp and Stahl Arms the solo power to control everything that required government funds and since Stahl and Visari are now close associates they control most what the government was in control of.

Of course Stahl wanted the people to have a say in things. This manifested the Senate. The new one was composed of one hundred elected officials rather than the nine or so advisors. So far only twenty had been appointed. This was fine for Stahl since he still had complete control of the Helghast government as of right now.

"Mister Stahl, what is the progress with your taskforce?" Stahl nearly jumped at the first words Visari has said in hours. _'She definitely didn't inherit her fathers need to talk all the fucking time.' _Stahl walked over to a nearby computer terminal and started to plug away at the key board. He still preferred to do the work himself since every other Helghast was apparently incapable of completing the simplest of fucking tasks.

"Well Madam, are forces are currently two days from Vekta's orbit. The Lalande are hiding out side scanner range of Gyre. Vechians are one day out from Procyon. Nine others are now two days out. The rest are three or more days out."

"Should our forces wait for the others to arrive?"

"No, the longer we wait the more likely the ISA or UCN will notice us. We need as much time as possible to prepare Vekta for Earth's counter attack."

"Doesn't that mean that the others that will be late will most likely be slaughtered before they reach orbit?"

"Your fucking point?" Stahl walked away from the terminal and moved back to the balcony. He leaned on the railing and basked in the glory of Helghan.

"Nothing Stahl, just curious about your plans." She leaned up against the railing, the golden stitching of her trench coat glistening in the filtered light of Helghan. Stahl looked over to her.

"Do you have a problem with my methods?" She stared into him with a cold icy stare.

"No Stahl. I personally think it is a waste of resources." She played with her long hair. "Then again most of them are just foreign scum that is only good for cannon fodder. I'm just not sure how our new friends that make it through the meat grinder will think about it." Stahl was shocked by her response, he expected her to rant about ethics and other shit he could care less about. The more he got to know her the more she reminded him of an intellectual version of her father.

"Don't worry too much Madam. I have already convened with the forces that have the greatest chance of survival and promised them the home worlds of the less fortunate ISCA colonies." Visari glanced in reply. She put her arms against the rails and leaned her head against them.

"So, when are we going to alert the masses of our little foreign excursions?"

"An hour or so after we get our feet on the ground, we don't want to give the ISA any forewarning. So how is your precious Third Shock Army and terrorist doing in the preparations for our glorious campaign? "

"From what I was told by their leader, who if I remember correctly was in your pocket," She stared at him intently in either hate or admiration, Stahl could never tell with her. "The guerrillas have taken out almost all of the ISA space defenses and the ISA appear to not even bothering trying fixing them. As for our Vektan friends, they are wrecking hell in the city. Vekta City is under martial law again due to their activities and the UCN death squads are slowly purging the slums and I hear they are going to start purging the ISA's military forces again. The loyalists are supposed to use some of our exports today to get back at them. Then there is the big finale they have planned for right before the invasion. The ISA should be in disarray and the UCN will be shitting themselves in the face of our combined forces."

"Excellent Madam, your father would be proud." She grinned and rose from the railing.

"Sorry to be leaving you Stahl but I have a meeting with the Lalande PM and then it is off to the lab, techs have a new demo and I wanted to analyze a few of the new reports." He watched the woman slowly strut away from the balcony. She had always had a deep interest in science, even when she was little. All the time in the Corporation's labs made her a smarter, more efficient leader. He then started to think about his invasion. The worries of possible failure haunted his mind constantly. It was to the point where he hasn't slept in days. _'Almost show time. Perhaps it would be wise to start writing that speech… Ah, fuck it. What's the worst that can happen?' _Stahl continued to watch the massive military parade. The crowds were starting to wane. It had been going on for hours at this point. _'Maybe I should have had that MAWLR march in the parade.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Vekta**

**Vekta City Slums**

**June 1, 2360**

Theo watched some half-hig scum walk inside a rundown apartment from an unmark delivery vehicle. He spoke to a heavily armored UCN death squad member next to him with a pair of binoculars.

"That the bastard?" The large man set down his specs.

"Would appear so, sir. Our plan of action?" Theo reached down and put on his full face helmet.

"To politely ask for some sugar, the usual." Theo grabbed a M82 from the floor of the car.

"Roger that. Should I grab the tools?"

"Yes Wilson, also tell Marcus and Hutch to move in."

"Yes, sir." Wilson started to talk on his comm well pulling a large bag with rather sharp and unfun instruments out of the back. They left the car to some ISA private that acted as a driver. As the two decked in very heavy black and blue armor that looked really similar to the body guards of Helghast generals moved to the building, two others following, the children playing in filth ran from them. Marcus kicked one as he passed.

"Fucking sewer rats." The death squad went into the complex and quietly walked up the stairs to the apartment of a suspected associate of terrorist. Theo motioned them to form up on the door. Theo tried to listen into the room. He could hear some talking but he couldn't make it out. He stepped back and kicked in the flimsy door. He raised his M82 and stormed into the room, the rest of the squad following. He pointed the gun at a half-hig sitting at a table eating breakfast with a little girl.

"Get the fuck on the floor or I will blow your fucking head off." Without a word the halfy dropped his spoon, the piece of metal falling to the floor. He slowly lowered himself onto the floor. The little girl started to cry. The half-hig tried to comfort her.

"It will be okay sugar, daddy will be done in a bit." The girl just cried harder.

"Fuck this!" Hutch walked over to the girl and slapped her across the face. Her mouth flung blood as she toppled to the floor. The half-hig tried to get up but the feeling of a flash suppressor from a M82 pressing on the back of his neck convinced him otherwise.

"Hello Mr. Helston, we are here to ask you a few questions." Theo removed the gun from the man's neck and picked him up by his collar. He tossed him into a chair where Marcus was waiting with duct tape. He was quickly restrained. Wilson was busy pulling out a large-ass knife. "We have reason to believe that you are housing and have housed terrorist. Now would you kindly tell me if the is true." The halfy looked to Theo and spit onto his mask.

"Go to hell you fucking UCN bastards!" Theo wiped the fluid off his face mask.

"Wrong answer Mr. Helston." He suddenly grabbed a knife from Wilson and plunged it into the restrained hands of the half-hig, piecing through the bottom of the wooden arm of his chair. The halfy screamed in pain as Theo started to twist the blade, the sound of bone snapping and ligaments tearing audibly. "Let me rephrase this. We know you have housed terrorist before. Now would you please tell me anything you have heard?"

Mr. Helston just continued to scream as his hand was speared to the chair's arm. "Oh sorry about that, almost forgot." Theo pulled out the knife, the bleeding increasing. The half-hig stopped screaming at least.

"Now back to the question, tell me something and we will leave you alone for a day or two." The half-hig just stared at him in hate.

"Well, let's make this more interesting." He nodded to Hutch who picked up the limp body of the man's daughter. He then placed a M4 to her head. "Tell me or she will decorate your ceiling."

The Half-hig stared in horror. "I don't know anything. They never tell me anything. They don't trust me."

"Well then Mr. Helston, your fault." The half-hig was about to yell when Hutch pulled the trigger. The girls head twitched, a red cloud formed. The halfy let out a cry as the squad started to walk out of the apartment. Hutch tossed the limp body at the feet of her father. He tried to break out of his restraints but failed. He cried as Theo closed the door.

An ISA private that was driving them ran up the stairs.

"What happened, I heard shots?"

"The situation is taken care of Private Cho." The ISA private stared at the door where a constant crying was piercing through. An uneasy look scrawled across his face.

"What should I do sir?"

"Burn down this fucking shit hole and get back in the van."

"Won't that burn down the whole block?" Theo started to walk down the steps.

"Does it fucking matter? This whole slum is just a breeding ground for inferior scum like you Vektans and these disgusting half breeds." He continued down the stairs as the private apologetically took out his lighter. He flicked the top up, a pitiful flame emitted from it. He slowly released the lighter. The fire fell onto a pile of trash. The mix of grease and cardboard shot up in flames. It slowly started to spread to the walls and then enveloped the hallway. The private walked out the building with his head down, leaving a building with black smoke billowing from the windows. A single cry was heard from inside. He slowly got in the vehicle and started it. He looked down to a clock on the military radio in the front, seven twenty. As he did a scream came over the radio. It slowly became comprehensible.

"All UCN units, report directly to HQ! The Helghast are assaulting the building!" Theo looked up in interest.

"Step on it Private!" The car sped through the slums, leaving a flaming building by passers ignoring the billowing smoke and the lone scream.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**UCN Vekta City HQ**

**June 1, 2360**

**1900 Hours**

Zoey was stuck in the back of a vehicle they 'borrowed' from the death squads. Inside the stuffy vehicle was six other people, computers putting off heat, and a rather large arsenal.

"For the love of God could you turn on the damn A/C?" She pulled at the collar of her UCN field ops uniform the guerrillas gave to her. They heavy armor combined with her usual amount of explosives was not the best choice for warm conditions. Zorta, the driver, turned back to her.

"Sorry but one of you dumbass terrorist shot it up when you people stole it."

"It's insurgent dammit!" Victor rolled his eyes well she took a sip of water. One of the guerrilla Shadow Guards, Snake, decided to calm her down.

"You could just turn on your suit's cooling system, you know." He reached around to her back and flipped a switch. A cool stream of water began to circulate around the interior.

"Oh… uh, thanks." Snake just ran his finger through his mullet.

"No problem." She hated his hair, which she was certain was a wig. Zoey could have sworn that the mullet died out almost a half of a millennium ago. He reached down and lit one of up a cigarette. He handed one out to Zoey. "Want one?" She looked at his dilapidated hand rolled cigarette.

Nervously she declined the sickly cigarette. He just shrugged and went back to smoking. She looked to the other four in the back. All of them were decked out in armor that dwarfed the heavy armor the UCN death squads were oh so proud of. It was a modified version of some Arc Heavies or something like that. She'd never seen the normal ones in person. They all wore helmets that were modified to provide more visibility than normal. On their mask was a bony smile painted in white. _'I guess these guerrilla guys really like the whole skull thing.' _On the backs were the red-eyed skull and the two crossing StA-52s with the infamous _Never Forgive_ underneath.

"So how are you guys doing?" They just stared back at her. She timidly swallows. Two of them took off their helmets. At first they appeared normal. One was a bald Helghast male, the other a female hig with short cut raven hair. Then she noticed why they didn't reply. Their mouths were sown shut. Zoey gasped and regretted it. The two's mouths turned into a sinister grin and a muffled chuckle came from their mouths. Snake leaned over to her and whispered.

"Since they are often part of highly sensitive task, certain members of the mobile armored infantry voluntarily cut out their tongues and have their mouths sown shut so they can't say anything if they are captured alive. They are known as the Silent Brotherhood."

"Sorry?" They just smiled back at her. They looked like they would eat her soul in her sleep when they smiled.

"Don't worry, they love scaring punks like you shitless." Snake returned to his position and stuck a silenced M66 in his disguise. "Showtime." The two unmasked heavies put back on their helmets and started to rummage through some large crates. Zoey stopped in the middle of placing a sawed off shotgun in her armor when she saw what they pulled out. Each of them was dual wielding Pnv-3 Siska Squad Cannons. _'Zorta wasn't kidding when he said they were basically tanks.'_

They waited well Zoey and Snake walked out of the van. They were both dressed as UCN security guards. They casually walked towards the building that in the middle of nowhere. The building was topped with a shitload of razor wire and four machine gun nest. The guns had a wonderful view of the surrounding fields and the few residential houses. However there was a rather small security detail of twenty or so guards. _'Bastards are so cocky that they think we don't have the balls to attack their HQ. Ignorant bastards are about to have a rude awakening.'_ The two walked through the front door and flashed their I.D.s. The receptionist just glanced at them. Zoey was expecting to have to go through hours of paperwork and interrogation to enter the most feared organization. The two infiltrators just stared at each other and shrugged. It was going pretty well.

They continued into the bowels of the complex. It was surprisingly normal looking for a group of exclusive Earthlings controlling all of Vekta's army and government. Combine that with the fact that all the workers sipping coffee cubicles helped coordinate the movement and actions of the death squads seemed so wrong. She looked down to a watch on her wrist. They had two minutes until their friends in the vehicle started to wreck hell on the twenty guards and hundreds of employees.

The two walked past the cubicles with little more than a few glances from the bored workers. They then arrived at the entrance to the data base. Between them and all the information about UCN security details, patrols, and names of all the members of the death squads was four feet of solid steel. Now all they needed was the distra-

Suddenly outside Zoey could hear multiple dull explosions. The cubical rats started to scurry about in panic. _'Useless' _As planned the huge door opened up. An angry looking technician appeared from behind the mammoth door.

"Hey, you two! Get in here and do your job!" Zoey and Snake looked at each other and tried to act clueless. The techincain sighed and acted it out slowly.

"You," He points to them, "Come in here and help me." They then slowly walked through the door into the interior of the room. It was about twenty feet wide and seemed to be an endless stretch of blanking servers that ran down the hundred yards stretch of the room. The door slammed close. "Thank god for you two dumbasses. Not sure what I would do if them damn terrorist got in here."

"We no know." Snake spoke slowly to keep up the image. The technician continued to walk along on of the rows of humming lights. Snake slowly reached for his silenced weapon.

"You know, the IT guys weren't joking when they said how incompetent you people are. Now try not to touch any of the purty light or anything. You dumbasses will break something." Snake slowly raised the machine pistol to the man's head. "So what do you cavemen call each other?" He turned around to see the end of the barrel.

"Nighty night." There was a dull thud and the sharp snap of the mechanism of the pistol. The head exploded in an unproportional burst of blood. The previously blue light on the severer now shined a deep purple. The body slid down the humming wall. "Well, to business."

The two infiltrators started towards the main computer terminal. He wiped off the massive pile of pop cans the littered the desk. He then exited the numerous pages of material that HR would have a hissy over. He reached down and plugged in a portable storage device. Zoey raised Zorta on the comm. He tried to speak over the continuous explosions.

"Download everything to do with Capital Square. We need to know numbers, instillations, patrols, everything!" She heard the sound of a M82 going off over them comm.

"Understood, how's it out there?" The sound of a StA-52's shotgun blasted over the radio.

"Let's just say that the death squads responded a lot faster than expected. We will be fine if you hurry up." Snake had already started the hefty download. Zoey took this time to get out of the heavy armor and put on her normal jeans and the hoodie that one nurse gave her. Snake was taking off his armor too. He was now in some muscle suit thing and had a bandana wrapped around his head. Zoey made sure to grab the shotgun she brought along with the two StA-18s that were in her hip holsters. Snake reloaded his silenced pistol. She noticed he kept looking at her ass.

"Hey, perv want me to shot your foot." Snake simply coughed and looked away. The computer made a happy ping when the download was done.

"Time to leave." Snake pulled out four incendiary grenades as the got to the entrance. Zoey nodded to him before opening the door. To her surprise the employees had scurried elsewhere. The entire building was quite sans the constant explosions from outside. Snake shrugged as he casually tossed the grenades into the room as they exited. The light thud the canisters of white phosphorous was accompanied by the stinging smell of burning silicon.

They slowly made their way out of the building, the damage increasing as they got closer to the entrance. The thuds of the shootout slowly became sharper and sharper until they walked into a massive firefight between the guerillas and the UCN and ISA. One of the guerilla fighters was down, a pyre slowly cooking the body inside. The building they exited looked like it should not be able to stand. The face of it was absolutely devastated with hundreds of small pockets and larger craters. There were three transports that the death squads use that were burning at the side of the road. Dozens of dismembered ISA and UCN soldiers were littering the streets. As Zoey absorbed the situation an ISA soldier ran over to her.

"Hey lady, what the fuck are you doing here? You are going to get yourself killed." The man grabbed her by the arm and tried to drag her away to cover. She resisted and was soon in a tug-or-war with him. "What the hell? You need to get out of here." As he spoke she saw Snake appear out of the shadows. He stealthily got behind the soldier and grabbed him from behind. As the man gasped in exclamation Snake gave a quick twist of the knife. The man died almost instantly, a look of confusion stuck on his face as his corpse slowly fell to the floor.

Before she could thank him a delivery vehicle cairned up to the curb they were at. A smiling Zorta yelled out of the cabin. "Want a ride?" The two jumped into the vehicle. The three remaining Helghast outside used the double fire feature of their cannons and emptied their clip into the mass of UCN before sprinting for the truck. They jumped into the back, the truck dropping a couple inches from the massive addition of weight, and flew down the road as the UCN tried to kill them. Their rounds happily clanked off of the vehicle's back.

"So did you two get the intel?" Snake pulled out the small storage device. Zorta smiled as he ripped it out of his hand. "Perfect! Now to get back and start finalizing the plans."

Zoey was unsure what he meant. "What plans?" Zorta looked up from the road.

"We are going to take out Capital Square in preparation for ISW III." Zoey just stared at him blankly.

"Wait… What?" Zorta sighed.

"We, as in the guerrillas and you insurgent, are going to attack the capital. That way the invasion force will be ignored until it is too late. That would put us in the lead for the third interstellar war. Why do you think we have been doing all this shit?" The situation finally dawned on her.

"Well shit…" Zorta just smiled and turned back to the road.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N: Sorry about the delay. I wanted this chapter to go all the way up to the invasion but it was getting long and was taking forever to write. However the next chapter is about half way done so expect 9 to be out much sooner.

Anyway, please review the chapter. Any input would be appreciated. Also, I should be getting another story up soonish that is a cross over in the Killzone universe.

-Sir Robert VI, Ph.D.


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: ** I do not own Killzone. Killzone is the intellectual property of Guerrilla Games and SCE.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Planet Vekta **

**Vekta City, Capital Square**

**June 3, 2360**

**0900 Hours**

Theo sat on a bench in his civilian garb overlooking Capital Square as it was swarming with RRF, ISA, and UCN. After all that has happened over the past two weeks the entire capital was in a panic, the daily bombings in the capital from the Steel Legion didn't help. It reminded Theo of when he first arrived on this planet. The Helghast were still kicking the ISA's ass. Even after that Templar guy stopped the large hig force under this city those red eyed bastards were still active. The UCN fixed the problem. First was to cleanse the military of all the scum. That entitled purging the military of all half breeds, even the famous Hakha. Then there was the very unreliable high command that by this point was almost all dead. A few more bullets and the job was done.

Then you had to clean out the slums some, that's where he came in. Theo searched for anyone with a suspected connection to terrorist and they would have a meeting with internal security. This usually entailed a few dozen spent shells, a few Molotovs here, a dozen or so fractured bones over there and a couple fresh cadavers to the side of the road. In the early days it was simply open season. Then the government started to get all pissy. Theo's men had started to wean off of killing everyone. After a couple of half higs broke into the ISA Administrative building and blew themselves up, taking out a few senators with them. That's when the UCN initiated martial law. They silenced the former leaders of Vekta permanently and the masses became less reluctant to talk back. They soon loved the UCN for providing aid, security, and new weapons.

Theo sighed as he remembered the good times. He looked up in time to see hopeless RRFs running on some dumbass errand to this small shack next to one of the hundreds of government offices. _'The only good thing that came out of them was that Templar and he went off and died.'_ He looked at them more closely. _'Damn they look like a bunch of useless bitches. Fuck, I think that one has a pair of tits.' _He shook his head as he made his way towards the lab. One of the technicians said they might have figured out what the bastards that attacked HQ were after.

As he walked along the marble buildings there was a screeching noise echoing down the streets. _'Why is there some dumbass blowing a fucking whistle?'_ Theo instinctively ducked down at the sound of a gun going off. He raised his head to see what the hell was going on. Out of seemingly nowhere insurgents wearing red goggles were pouring from buildings. _'Well shit…'_ He pulled out an M4 and aimed at a squad coming from the building he saw RRFs run into a second ago. He pulled the trigger and the large revolver bucked in his hand. Theo saw a female insurgent in a hoodie flinch as the bullet cracked past her head. _'Well at least I was right about the tits.'_ Theo looked closer at the running figure. _'Well fuck me, that's the bitch from the hospital. I guess that composite sketch did come in handy.'_ Theo turned at the sound of footsteps and aimed at a man down the street running with a Molotov. He fired; the round puncturing the man's leg. A large chunk of flesh flew from the wound as the man toppled face first to the ground. The Molotov he had shattered on contact with the street. The insurgent was instantly enveloped in flame. Turning from the cooking meat Theo saw the squad from earlier run into an alley. The hunt has begun.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Zoey followed Zorta through an alley on their way towards a gate. Snake followed her, probably watching her ass… again. Behind him was one of the death squad bastards that shot at her.

"Zorta, what's the plan exactly? You never really told me why we are not joining my buddies right now." He sighed as he ran down the almost deserted alley.

"We have to clear out the entrance to the underground tunnels that were blasted a while back. That would allow our forces to escape in case it gets too hot and allow some of our heavier ground based troops to enter. We are also to meet up with Skorzeny there. We are then to escort him through the capital to the front. Understood?"

"Okeydokey!" Zoey had to readjust her goggles. They were a pain to wear. Unlike legit Helghast goggles these were just plain old red goggles with no special tech or anything. They also didn't go well with cigarettes, much to her disappointment. The only thing they will do is try to tell other friendlies who not to shoot. Well, they also made everything a cool red hue.

Out of nowhere a round cracks past her head. _'Shit!' _For a seemingly old man the UCN security troop could run fast. Zoey stopped and raised both of her pistols and took potshots at the trailing man. He didn't even flinch. Facing forwards Zoey could see Snake placing a satchel charge on the side of one of the buildings. With a smile she ran past the waiting explosives and dove behind a convenient dumpster. She looked up to see Snake flip the switch on the device. With a thunderous explosion the entire side of the building crumbled, creating a towering wall between them and their follower. Zoey looked over to Snake who was busy brushing dust out of his horrendous hair. She gave him a smile, his gaze not quite going up to eye level. _'One of these days…'_

They started to move to their objective. On the way they ran into only a dozen RRFs that were trying to ambush them. However the RRFs suckish abilities were easily overcome by a Helghast foot soldier, a pervish stealth operator and a sympathetic Vektan teen with a bad smoking habit. A couple headshots and snapped necks later and the group were at the destination. The entrance to the sewer system was rather unimpressive. It looked like a guard's shack that had a basement. In this basement was a large metal door that was wielded shut.

"So" Zoey asked, "What is our plan for opening this." With a sigh Zorta walked up to the door.

"You just go upstairs and make sure that the UCN doesn't walk in on us. Well holler when we are through and need you to clear out some rubble blocking the entrance." From a small sack on his back he pulled out what looked like a paint sprayer. He then inserted a vial of petrusite into the back of the device. As Zoey sulkily walked up the stairs a blue light permeated from down the stairs. In the shack Zoey was completely bored. She tinkered with her twin pistols and shotgun. No enemy soldiers were nearby the only noises was the gunfire from further in the capital. The only thing that broke up the monotony of war was when the guerrillas arrived in force. Their drop ships were impressive but they didn't last for more than a few minutes, the AA was way too heavy to have any air support.

The radio next in the guard house started to bark to life causing Zoey to nearly fall of a chair she was resting on. "Overlord to all ground forces, clear sector A-1 for pay load drop off. Following reinforcements will be arriving shortly. "The message kept on repeating well Zoey tried to figure out what the hell it meant. Eventually she stuck her head down the stair well.

"Hey Zorta! There is something you might want to hear!" She saw him give Snake the arc torch thing and run up the stairs.

"What do you want?" She simply pointed to the radio mounted on the wall. The Helghast soldier started to write down what it was saying. He then pulled out a map from one of his pockets and spread it out on the wall.

"What do you make of it, sir?" The soldier continued to puzzle over it well Zoey waited for a reply.

"I am not sure? These are not ISA or RRF call signs or code at all. I am thinking it must be some UCN thing." He still looked at the map. He twisted it around, trying to make any sense of it. "All I can tell is that we are going to be getting some company soon."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The capital of Vekta must be a rather nice place. Welkans marveled at all the vast marble structures in between his time of shooting anything that moved. Most of the civvies were strewn on the side of the road. The RRF was well on their way to join them. Speaking of the devil Welkans fired a three round burst into the torso of a charging RRF. The soldier fell to his left as the rounds ripped part of his torso away. The soldier twitched on the ground as he coughed up copious amounts of blood. A quick stomp finished the job.

Welkans looked up from his fresh kill and additional point. The main administrative building was in sights behind a thick veil of smoke and dust. Inside was the entire government of Vekta. All that separated the guerrillas from an extremely delayed victory was a thousand yards of razor wire, machine gun nest, mortars, and hundreds of RRFs, ISA marines, and UCN soldiers. It was only a matter of time until enemy armor arrives. Now that the RRF were mainly gone all that were left were trained marines that could actually kill you.

Welkans' squad slide behind the charred remains of a mid-size luxury sedan. He motioned the rest of his platoon to move forward. The previous leader of the platoon caught a sniper's bullet to the head. Welkans radioed to his CO. "Colonel Embry, this is the Fox Company, 3rd Platoon. We are hitting heavy resistance on way to Administrative Building. Requesting permission to find alternate course to Admin."

"That's a negative. Push on through. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. 3rd Platoon out." He looked up from cover. An onslaught of bullet forced him to duck. Pushing on he motioned for a pair to move to forward to cover.

"Cover!" The platoon and others in the task force rose from cover and opened fire as Alpha and another soldier ran forward. The enemy fire didn't let up at the slightest the onslaught of Helghast weapons. Alpha's legs were blown off but he was able crawled behind cover before the ISA could finish him off. His partner had their arms cleaved off and fell onto his knees. As he screamed in pain, enemy fire quickly tore off more and more chunks of flesh until the screaming stopped. Welkans looked up from the dead soldier in time to see Alpha hit by an enemy anti-tank round.

'_Shit! This isn't going to work.' _ He pulled out a map and tried to find the best way around to the target. It was surrounded on all sides by over five hundred yards of an open killzone that had been once a park. However an air strike had exposed a sewage pipe that leads directly to the rear of the building. It should be enough to get his men in there to eliminate the defenses. _'Fuck orders!'_ He looked around for an escape from this killzone. He spied a burnt out bakery across the street. He could see bits of a street or alley through the burnt slats.

"3rd Platoon, on me!" He sprinted from cover, tracer rounds following him. The bullets sparked against asphalt, never quite catching him. The surviving members of his platoon followed suit. He kicked through the charred wooden wall and slowly crept outside. He found himself in an alley. In the street he just left the iconic sound of Exos came to life.

"Lizard, grab another sniper and a spotter and get up on top of that fire escape across the alley and cover our rear. The rest is on me." With a tip of his hat Lizard ran towards a nearby fire escape, tapping the shoulder of a woman with a StA-52 SLAR and a man with a scope soldier on the way. The soldiers followed suit. Seeing them run Welkans motioned with his hand and his platoon was off.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Theo smiled as he pumped a few rounds into the chest of some insurgent causing to fall to the ground still alive. It was a pleasure to kill the people that had been making his life hell for the last few years. He walked over to the terrorist as they reached for the switch to his explosive vest that laid a foot away from his twisted body.

"I am afraid I can't let you do that." He slammed his boot down on the man's arm. He erupted in a scream, blood flying from his mouth. Theo rose up his M4 to the man's head. Before he pulled the trigger though he made sure to twist around his boot till the terrorist's arm was shattered to hell. "Goodbye now." The terrorist's screams was ended with the sharp report of his revolver. He spat on the corpse and looked up. After he had lost the bomber bitch he went back to get his armor, guns and squad.

"Wilson, Marcus, move up the left side of the street. Hutch, follow me up the right. Cho, roll on up the center." The ISA soldier sighed and did what he was ordered. The UCN men chuckled at his reaction. The measly ISA soldier made nice bait for any Helghast that were around.

"Commander, sir," Cho spoke up, "What are we doing?"

"The reports are coming in now that a group of higs broke off of the main attachment around here. So when they get bogged down with fire we come in from the rear and hit them." The group continued to run down the street as the private soaked in the information. Hutch went out of his way to kick one of the many Helghast corpses that littered the streets. _'To think that after all this time of fighting as guerrillas they forgot how to be proper shock troopers. The mighty Third Shock Army of Helghan can't even take a single building by force. Pa-fucking-thetic.' _ He broke from his thoughts in time to see a burnt out shell of a restaurant or something that was sandwiched between two brick buildings.

"In here boys." The five men filed into the building. As Hutch was about to walk out the shattered back Theo grabbed his shoulder. He whispered, "Wait a second." Theo slowly bent over and picked up a small pastry that's way over cooked. He gently tossed it into the adjacent street. It was instantly vaporized by a bullet. "We need find another way onto that street."

Theo looked around his surroundings. The best path he could think of would be to break through the wall to the office next door and then move on to the roof with a rocket and blow the sniper(s) of the face of the planet. The only problem would be how to get the rocket's wielder in position without them being cut in half by a fifty cal. slug to the chest. Bait would work but who would volunteer for something that will most likely end up getting you killed. His eyes fell on to the ISA private. _'Solution found…'_

"Hutch, make us a door to the adjacent building through the wall."

"Yes, sir" The UCN soldier walked over to the charred wall and grabbed a nearby metal chair. He then began to go to town on the wall. The burnt building was easy to get through. The brick building next door proved much more formidable. Hutch kept on swinging the chair, it slowly deforming from the repeated hits. Slowly but surely he was chipping away the wall. Meanwhile the others were finding out how much the Helghast were winning by. Cho was busy using his radio and a map to see how the battle was playing out. From what he figured the Helghast's three taskforces were well on their way to breaking through the ISA and UCN defense. The two largest taskforces had taken their targets. The only area not taken was the heavily defended Administration Building. However a recent flood of more heavily armored insurgents and guerrillas from seemingly nowhere (Cho suspected they found another way in through the sewers) could upset this last point of defense. The resident military bases have already been taken by those fucks so there was no hope of reinforcements.

Finally there with one last swing the chair bashed through the wall, brick, ash and dust falling into the pristine government office. With a few kicks the hole was large enough to walk through.

"Hutch, stay here and guard our rear. Wallace and Marcus head to the roof with the rockets. Cho you are on me." The other soldiers complied and began to move to their positions. Just as he began to move towards the back he turned to Wallace and Marcus. "Wait for the signal before going into the open and hitting the bastards."

They both nodded before continuing to run up the stairs. With a little navigating Theo and his Vektan driver finally came to the back entrance. The door only had a handle on the inside and a small window for looking out. _'Perfect' _"Cho, get ready for the diversion"

"How do I do that, sir?" Theo smiled at the private as he opened up the door. The red lasers of the Helghast snipers' rifles were visible as they scanned the alleyway.

"Like this private." Theo kicked the Vektan directly into the alley. The soldier fell down on the ground. He shook his head as he tried to grasp the situation. The lasers of the rifles quickly settled down on the target.

"What the fuck!" The private quickly sprung up and ran to the door. Theo had already closed it. Cho started to pound on the door. "Open the fucking door now!"

Theo simply laughed at him through the small window. Well Cho continued to plead for mercy Theo decided to shout, "Earth is now in your debt you piece of-" Before he could finish his courteous thanks the small window suddenly turned the all too familiar crimson. The sound of two rifles quickly filtered through the door. Chasing after the sound like a rabid dog was the wonderful sound of an AP missile hitting its target. Theo opened the door and strolled out with a bounce in his aging step. He sniffed the acidic smell of cordite mixed with blood, ozone and explosives. With a pleasant exhalation Theo got on his radio and ordered the rest of his squad to meet him. It took them a minute but they finally arrived.

He pointed towards the target of the Helghast Taskforce. "Get ready to clean up a large mess, men. HMS Overlord should be here shortly and we will be able to put these red eyed cunts in their fucking place." As if to punctuate his statement yellow streaks fell from the sky, all hitting where the admin building was.

"About time. Let's get this show on the fucking road." The quartet began to run towards the heart of the battle, a cowboy hat wistfully falling to the ground. "Oh, after we finish our cleanup we can find that bombing bitch and give her a proper greeting."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Welkans spied the ISA's center of resistance through his binoculars from atop an overturned semi. The soldiers under his command were behind the crashed semi-truck at the very edge of the killing fields surrounding the building. The expansive four story structure didn't look that impressive from the rear. Most of the enemy defenses, along with the now destroyed marble façade, were at the front where the one of the three main taskforces of the Helghast assault was attacking. A series of flashes and an occasional stream of tracers revealed where the enemy mortar and AA position was located. For just a couple tubes the mortars were playing hell on the Helghast.

Welkans set down the binoculars and looked up to the sky. About a dozen things crashed next to the mortars. The whole ordeal was over in the course of a minute. After which nothing else fell. From his position he couldn't see anything but a screen of smoke from the area and a constant stream of soldiers moving between them and the building.

Welkans turned back to the soldiers behind him. "Oye! Wolf, get you and your spotter up on top of that fire escape and see if you can get a good angle on the troops moving towards the crash site." At his orders a sniper with blonde hair peeking out from her helmet and her spotter started to climb up the fire escape. She was on the second floor, her spotter on the third. Once on top she rested the barrel of her rifle on the railing. She then peered through her scope. Welkans returned to his binoculars.

"What do you see Wolf?" He waited for her response, his eyes slowly drifting towards the fighting on the other side of the building. A yell from above refocused him.

"The things that crashed are some kind of pods. I am thinking they are UCN. The soldiers appear to be carrying large crates from them to the Admin." _'So the UCN did have a supply drop. That would mean that there had to be a UCN battleship somewhere near here… Shit'_

"Can you make out what is in the boxes?"

"That's a negative, sir. All I can tell you are that they are pretty fucking big." _'What to do, what to do…' _Welkans could only imagine what was in the boxes. If he fired now he could hope a box broke open and could slow down their transport. But that could draw the attention of a mortar or even a platoon of ISA to his area which would be the last thing he needed right now.

"Wolf… fire at will."

"With pleasure, sir." The sniper slightly readjusted her rifle. Her spotter gave here the range and the current air speed and temperature. She let out a long breath. A shot rang out from the street. Through his specs Welkans saw a cloud of blood form from behind the chest of a soldier. He slowly fell over as blood gushed from his torso.

The soldiers around him just stared for a while before taking some form of cover from an unknown enemy. With a smile Wolf proceeded to take another shot at the enemy. Another soldier meets his untimely end. Realizing what the threat is, the enemy started to fire everywhere. Most shots were not even in the right direction. A few came disturbingly close to hitting their mark.

At this point Welkans decided to join his men behind the safety of the semi. He then hollered up to the sniper for an update.

"It would appear that the crates hold some bloody big guns and some new armor or weapons platform. I can't really tell from here." Her rifle barked again as a soldier's head downrange disappeared in a shower of crimson. The semi rattled as more bullets collided with its belly.

"Let up on the fire Wolf, they are closing in on our position." A bullet hitting the fire escape stressed his point.

"Ceasing fire." Welkans got back on top of the semi and looked out onto the large killzone between him and the target. Soldiers were still shooting. However more were busy picking up whatever was in the crates.

"Hey Wolf, can you get a better look at the contents of the crate." The sniper readjusted her scope.

"Sorry sir, my scope has a limited zoom." She looked up a flight of stairs. "Oye, can you get a good look?" Her spotter played with his small telescopic scope. The incoming fire had finally decided to stop.

"Can't make out much detail but from the way they are holding it looks like a shoulder mounted weapon. Four feet in length, nearly a foot tall, sixish inches wide, and with really big ass rounds. The firing system looks really bizarre."

"What do you mean soldier?"

"There is a large gap right where the barrel should be. Dunno what to make of it." The spotter clicked the dial on his scope a few degrees. "Shit sir, one of them is aiming it straight at us!" The spotter looked up from his scope and looked down at Welkans for instructions.

"Stay still Private, I wasn't to see how that thing shoots. Just feed me info." With reluctance the spotter went back to his spot and looked down his sight. His hands were shaking as he adjusted the dial once more.

"It is really aiming at me. It seems like there are little sparks of electricity are bridging the gap. Umm… it is just getting sparkier sir. Can I move yet sir?"

"No, we need him to fire. Wolf, be ready to take the target out after it discharges a round." The sniper nodded as she returned to her sights.

The spotter was really shaking as he looked down at the impending target. Measly he continued to give updates. "Th-the arcing is going everywhere n-n-now. Uhhh… he looks like he letting up on the trigger and HOLY SHI-"

Before the spotter could finish a projectile instantly exploded from the gun. The projectile covered the hundreds of yards instantly, leaving a purple trail of plasma. It slammed into the fire escape the spotter was on, eradicating it instantly and tearing an enormous chunk of the building with it. Welkans' and his soldier were showered with bricks and metal. Wolf was buried under a massive pile of rubble. Welkans could still see her through the metal grating. Blood dripped from her respirator.

'_Well fuck' _He glanced out to see if the bastard with the big gun was preparing another shot. From the looks of it that was a no. There were no more ISA scrambling between the drop things and the main building for that matter. _'Must have everything moved.' _ He asked the resident engineer if he had any idea what the hell it was.

"My best guess is that it is some sorta railgun or something along those lines sir. That would explain the weird barrel, electricity and why the huge round could travel so far instantly and the trailing plasma."

Welkans head was cocked to the side and under his mask he had a completely dumbfounded look. "Uhh… okay?"

The soldier sighed. "An electromagnet propels a piece of metal at a dozen or so times the speed of sound. That gives the large round an immense amount of kinetic energy."

"Okay private, I'll be sure to send a memo to the Colonel. However-" Welkans peered back around the semi, "-we need to get moving" He turned back to his new platoon.

"Here's the plan. Once we run up the trench we break off so we can eliminate the defenses and allow our men to move forward. Alpha and Baker squads will clear out the mortar and AA nest. With that out of the way we can get air support in here. Charlie and Delta will sweep the front defenses. I want Shark and her shadow guards to scale up to the roof and take out the machine gun nest. Once cleared secure an entrance and wait for further commands. We should be getting some heavy units to help clear out the interior. Understood?"

The alley chorused in response, "Yes sir!"

"Alright, Go, Go, Go!" Welkans lead as they ran across the street and onto the park. Bent over as far as possible the ISA hadn't noticed them yet. Welkans dove into the opening of the trench. He rolled when he landed in the septic fluids filling up the busted sewer line. Ignoring the raw sewage soaking into his clothes he continued to run towards the Admin Building. Tracer rounds started to appear over the trenches top. Explosions from mortars quickly came along to accompany them. As dirt rained down on them Welkans motioned for Alpha and Bravo to climb up and take them out. From down in the trench he couldn't tell how they were doing but a limb that landed in his path didn't give him a very good feeling.

The trench was coming to an end. Without the slightest thought he leaped up to the rim trench and ran towards the government building. Between the guerrillas and the rear of the building were twenty RRFs behind sandbag fortification. As he charged towards the building Welkans zoned in on an unsuspecting RRF who just saw them. As a cigarette dropped from his mouth Welkans brought up his rifle and opened up on him. The first burst missed. The soldier started to swing his M82 towards Welkans. Welkans' next burst was corrected. Two rounds punctured the man's torso, causing him to stagger back as a crimson cloud from behind him. He somehow stayed up and raised his rifle towards Welkans again. By this time the guerrilla had closed the distance to the RRF and the under slung shotgun went off. The soldiers arm was nearly severed by the spray of pellets. Welkans quickly cocked it and fired again and again and again. The RRF's chest and face was reduced to a red pulp. Welkans grinned under the mask, _'Point' _The Helghast soldier then vaulted over the sandbags and continued to fire on anything that moved.

Behind him his men followed suit. The ISA forces mustn't have expected the assault from the rear. The platoon soon reached the rear wall of the building and split off. Shark and her men were busy climbing up some rather convenient fire escapes onto the roof. _'Have to love Fire Safety Codes.' _The two remaining squads broke off in separated directions around the building in attempt to create a crossfire. Welkans only had Specter and an insurgent the platoon had picked up on the way left in their squad.

As Welkans snuck along the side of the building the Vektans up front weren't paying any attention. _'Good, they mustn't have heard our fire.'_ Welkans motioned for his squad to hold up as he moved towards the edge of the building. He slowly crept, careful not to kick any rubble that populated the buildings flanks. When he was five feet away from the edge he heard a heavy thud behind him. He quickly turned and trained his rifle on the noise. At his feet was the mingled corpse of a UCN soldier with his throat slit. Welkans looked Specter. She motioned him to look up. Tilting his head back Welkans saw Shark waving down to him. Welkans gave her a thumbs up before returning to the target.

Welkans peered around the corner towards his target. In front of him lied forty ISA and UCN soldiers entrenched in a series of fox hole. Accompanying them was three pillboxes armed with machine guns and two Exos further downrange. The smoking wreckage of four more dotted the park separating him from the bulk of the Helghast force. Welkans waved his squad up. He then got on the radio and contacted the other groups.

"What is the situation?" He waited a little bit before Sharks voice crackled on.

"Targets neutralized, no casualties."

"What armaments did you find up there?" He heard Shark him as she took inventory.

"We have four turrets, a dozen or so anti-tank rockets and a nice arsenal of explosives. What are your orders, sir?"

"Have your men man the turrets and fire on when the mortars come down. I want you to take the rockets and try to take out those Exos."

"What about the explosive?"

"Just toss three satchel charges down here."

"Understood, sir." Welkans could hear her voice as she ordered the other men around. The satchel charges came falling soon after. Specter and the insurgent quickly slung them on their backs. Welkans then ordered the remains of Alpha and Baker squads to man the mortars and open fire on the ISA defenses. The high pitch shrieks of incoming mortars pierced the air. Four of them hit, only taking out a few of the entrenched soldier. On that note the guns up top opened up. They proved immensely more efficient than the mortars. The ISA were unsure what was happening. A few turned around and tried to fire on the emplacements, most stayed crouched in their foxholes. Using the confusion Welkans' squad started to move towards the pillboxes.

The Exos began to notice the firefight behind them. One of them broke off and began to approach the fight. A trail of smoke chased after the approaching Exo. The Exo tried to jump out of the way but the missile slammed into its leg. The limb was blown off, oil and hydraulic fluid guzzling from the wound. When the behemoth landed the other leg snapped from the extra weight. The Exo was left legless in a growing pool of oil. Another missile streaked towards it, setting the listless machine on fire.

By the time Shark finished it off the guerrilla taskforce started to surge forward. The pillboxes were still pinning them down. Three simultaneous explosions took that factor out of the equation rather quickly though. The remaining Exo did manage to hold back the attacking mass of guerrillas until a squad of the Silent Brotherhood struck from the left. The machine was reduced to a flaming pile of rubble in a matter of seconds. As the mass of the Helghast force surged towards them the entrenched ISA entered into a fight or flight mode. The machine guns on the top stopped firing for some reason and the ISA grew the nerve to rise up and try to hold back the charging force. Welkans' two squads then had a field day as thirty or so heads popped up from their holes like giant cadaver beetles. Welkans' men opened fire at the freshly exposed enemy who conveniently forgot about them.

Crouched, Welkans quickly trained his rifle on the nearest target and let out a quick burst. The unhelmeted soldier's skull was obliterated instantly, his brain matter spraying onto the back of one of his comrades. The man turned around and was greeted by two rounds to the forehead, taking off the top of his head. Welkans then rose up and ran to the nearest cover. He rose up from behind the pile of sandbags and unleashed his shotgun on a nearby UCN death squad member. At the short range the pellets were able to penetrate the soldier's enveloping helmet. Blood gushed from the half dozen small holes. To the side Welkans saw the insurgent go to town with his Molotovs, tossing them into every available foxhole. His section of the field was slowly turning into a series of barbeque pits. The screams of the soldiers penetrated the near constant gunfire. The few that tried to climb out were quickly shot by either the two squads or the approaching Helghast force.

Soon the defenses were completely wiped out and the air was silent except for a few explosions where the arriving guerrillas decided to toss a grenade into the foxhole of wounded soldiers. Welkans quickly tried to find the group's CO but to his frustration she had stepped on a landmine during the charge. Seeing that he was the only one with a grasp of the situation Welkans took charge. The force at his fingertips was close to a hundred strong; probably strong enough to clear the large multi-floored building. He quickly ordered the taskforce to split up into platoons and assigned them all to an entrance his men had already secured. Outside the front entrance Welkans whistled. At the signal the force broke into the building. Welkans and Specter along with a single platoon refrained from joining the fray to insure that there wasn't going to be any ISA forces trying to sneak up on them from the rear. He took this time to contact Shark and see why the turrets had stopped firing.

Welkans tried to talk over the sound of gun fire from inside. "Shark what is your status?"

After a few seconds her voice, heavy with breathing, came over the radio. "A Shadow Marshal had snuck up onto the roof and took out my men. I barely noticed her in time. I am currently somewhere on the third floor hunting that red haired bitch."

"Understood, do you need reinforcements?"

"Nope, I have this under control, sir. Shark out." As she signed off a second floor window exploded and showered Welkans with glass. His radio chirped. It was a noncom asking for reinforcements for breaching the main chamber. Welkans motioned for the platoon to join him.

He carefully walked through the hallway towards the main atrium where the remaining administrative body should be. The hallway was littered with the remains of many ISA and government workers. When he reached the massive doors to the multiple story room Welkans encountered the remains of the force assigned to him. They were busy mounting a large amount of explosives to the door. Some Silent Brotherhood members were loading up another clip of ammo into the large cannons. Suddenly his radio crackled to life.

"Hey Sarge," It was Shark, "I am in the air ducts above the main chamber. I have to warn you. I am hearing a fuckload of men down there. You could be walking into a fight you can't win."

"I will put it under advisement."

"But sir! It could be a massacre!"

"I know but we need to take this building. From what I hear Skorzeny and his taskforce has already taken the UCN _and _RRF base in the Capital Square and the other taskforce has taken out the ISA HQ. With this out of the way there will be no head for the ISA soldiers on Vekta except for Ravenholm."

"Okay sir, I am going to find a way down to the ground level and will try to slit some throat, that bitch got away from me, but I think she is somewhere down there."

Welkans shut off his radio. The preparations for blasting the door were set. All of the soldier were out of the way and ready to kick ass. Welkans took a deep breath seconds before he heard a high pitch beep. Answering the noise a couple pounds of explosive went off. The massive doors splintered, collapsing inwards. With a yell the Helghast force streamed into the atrium, their weapons firing at whatever they could make out of the dust that blocked their view. Welkans rushed in and slide behind a bench. From above there was a high pitch screech followed by an enormous blast. To his side a whole squad was wiped out. More and more massive blast from UCN rail guns poured in from a second floor balcony. The taskforce was slowly being decimated. The dust was clearing at last and Welkans could see his enemy. Along the balcony was a dozen of UCN soldiers armed with the rail guns. Beneath them was dozens of ISA soldier armed to the teeth.

"Move up the rows and spread out. 4th and 5th platoon, move for the stairs. 1st and 2nd lay down suppressing fire. 3rd, run to the rear and find the targets. Eliminate with extreme prejudice!" Like clockwork the soldiers did as they were told. The UCN soldier above continued to decimate the taskforce, however the long charging time played into the guerrillas favor. Welkans lead 4th platoon towards the balcony. As he kicked open the door to the stairwell he was greeted with the sight of a Shadow Marshal right front of him leaning over the limp body of Shark, a bloody knife still in hand of the Shadow Marshal. The red headed Shadow Marshal quickly turned and tried to aim her silenced pistol at him. Welkans brought up his rifle and fired first, the under slung shotgun ripping open her ribcage and exposing her chest cavity. The Shadow Marshal was thrown against the nearby wall. Welkans was drenched in her flesh and blood. Still standing over his downed comrade Welkans motioned for the platoon to move on as he checked his squad mate. He put his hand up to her neck to try to find her pulse only to be greeted by a large incision that went all the way to her spine. Welkans retracted his hand instantly and slowly stood up. He turned to the slumping corpse of the woman who had slain one of his close friends. He started to kick the body, increasing in pace and letting out a cry with each bloody impact. As he cried out Specter ran into the room and started to tell Welkans something. She stopped dead at the sight in the room.

"What do you want!" Specter continued to look at the body of her comrade.

"…We have three mechs in the chamber, sir. They are some new model; eight foot tall and heavily armed. They are tearing up 1st and 2nd platoon, sir."

"Do we have any anti-tank weapons?"

"No sir, the Silent Brotherhood squad was taken out by the first barge of fire."

"What is the status of 3rd?"

"They have found no sign of any administrative officials. The only people here are receptionist, low level employees and a few dead lobbyists. I-it is like they knew this would happen... What are your orders, sir?" Welkans walked back and forth as he contemplated the situation.

"Fuck!" Welkans slammed his fist against the wall. Everything was falling apart. "Order all men to fall back to the emergency relief area and set off all of the charges on the roof. I want this fucking place to burn."

"Yes, sir." Specter got on the radio and told everyone to fall back through the main entrance. Welkans loaded up his shotgun and ran back into the main atrium. He then saw the mechs she had spoken of. They were rounded, unlike the boxy Exo, and more closely resembled men with long arms. At the end of each arm was a minigun with an additional chaingun on each shoulder. One of them stood five yards in front of Welkans, its back facing him. In a fit of rage Welkans walked towards it, firing his entire clip into its back. All of his rounds simply sparked off of it. The mech didn't even pay attention to him, it continued to fire on fleeing Helghast.

"Why don't you motherfuckers pay attention?"

He then fired the shotgun at whatever looked important. Round after round he pumped the gun. The mech started to turn around. Welkans was at punching distance when he fired the last shot in his chamber at its leg. Something popped as fluid sprayed on Welkans' feet. The mech started to list to the side as it trained its guns at Welkans. Out of options Welkans went ahead and swung his rifle at the machines head. He must have messed with its targeting sensors as the mech was unable to hit him with any of its four weapons. The machine tried to swing its arms at him but Welkans was able to duck and slide between its legs.

Welkans then pulled out his knife and impaled it into a seam on the machine's back that his fire had loosened. He twisted it and pried open a panel some. Welkans grabbed a grenade and placed inside the exposed panel. He quickly slammed it shut and ducked behind a knocked over podium. The blast blew out the panel. The machine was still surprisingly intact from the blast, however it slowly fell forward. Still under fire Welkans ran forward and looked into the hole his grenade blew open. It had only caused small fractures in the thick metal plates but blood slowly spread from the fissures.

"At least you fucking die." Out of ammo Welkans picked up a civilian twelve gauge from the corpse of another guerrilla, their upper torso missing from railgun fire. He then ran towards the exit. The guerrilla force was able to take out the railguns but the mechs were too much. The two remaining machines continued to rain fire on the few remaining Helghast. Welkans had one jump in front of him and start to open fire. He quickly did a slide, going below the surge of lead. Well sliding he fire two rounds at its face. Both blasts of pellets were harmless but did cause it to be disorientated. He quickly got up and ran to the door. He swung his momentum down the hallway only to be greeted by two more mechs and the remains of his task force.

"Fuck!" Welkans dove from the hallway into an open door. The mechs didn't try to follow him; instead they focused on eliminating all the retreating guerrillas. He tried to stand up but his legs didn't want to comply. The sergeant sat up and saw why; he had two fresh holes in his leg, blood welling up from the neat little holes. He started to ease his way back from the door and leaned himself against a filing cabinet. Tracers were visible as they streaked past his small view of the carnage, the occasional soldier falling down, blood gushing from their wounds. Out of disgust and shame he reached out with his shotgun and closed the door.

Welkans got on the radio and turned it to all frequencies. "This is Sergeant Welkans to all Helghast forces. The Administrative Building is lost. I repeat the building is lost. Most of the taskforce is lost with it. Do not try to approach the building, the UCN has new weapons systems and will overpower any rescue party. The building will be torched. Sergeant Welkans out." He reached into his pack and grabbed a piece of linen, tying it around his wounds. Welkans then changed the frequency on his radio to his squad's. "Hey Specter, you still alive?"

There was static before her voice came through, it was wrought with fear. "Yes, sir. I am in the mortar pits with the remains of the taskforce, about twenty people. God this has been one hell of a cock up."

"Good girl, glad you made it. What is the status on the charges?" Specter didn't answer him for a few seconds. Welkans started to shiver; it was becoming really cool in here.

"We lost the charges, sir. A squad of UCN fought their way up onto the roof and took out the team before they could arm them."

"Okay… Try to move towards Skorzeny's men and rally any of our remaining forces. The armada should be here soon and Skorzeny will probably be the only one in the city who knows what they plan to do. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. What about you?"

"I think I will stay put here. They might not notice me in here and I can get out later. Besides I am really, really tired and could go for a nap about now." Welkans readjusted his uniform; the sewage smell was slowly fading.

"It's been a pleasure, sir. Specter out." Welkans took this time to take off his helmet. With it went his radio. He instantly felt relief from the searing heat that it captured. Next he took off his goggles. Out went his HUD. The world seemed much darker yet happier at the same time, more vibrant colors. He kept his respirator on, it helped block the smell of blood and decay.

For the first time Welkans looked around his surroundings. The room must have been a senator's office. It was lavishly decorated with as much expensive crap as possible. On the desk Welkans noticed a man slumped over, his arm off to the side of the desk, .357 in hand. _'I guess not all of them fuckers got away.' _Turning away from his companion Welkans noticed a window above the cabinet he was leaning against. The Helghast NCO tried to ease his way back so he can get a good look. With effort and much pain he moved back and decided the door would be a good place to rest. Leaning on the door Welkans looked through the window, the last rays of light causing the pool of blood, his blood he reminded himself, to glisten. The window provided an almost breath taking view of the sky. The sun had just set and the sky was painted with a few streaks of color against the endless abyss. Behind the color Welkans saw something that made him smile. Twinkling in the twilight was the planet Helghan in all of its glory. Swarming around it was hundreds of white dots, all slowly moving across the sky and growing in size. Welkans eyes slowly shut.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Theo walked through the broken defenses of the Administrative building towards the front door. He was absolutely disgusted by the smell coming from some of the charred foxholes. Ignoring the stench he pressed on past the foxholes turned graves and the shattered remains of pillboxes. Once through the doors though he meet a better sight. All the way down the hundred yards of hall were the bodies of countless higs. Still patrolling down it was one of the mechs. The new delivery was a godsend. Theo continued on his march to a CO who was busy in the main atrium. Theo was sure to step over the mess that the new mechs left. The jellified red-eyes were not good for his shoes. Theo came upon the CO. The current leader of UCN forces in Vekta City was busy shouting at his men. They were scavenging through the remains of the atrium for anything that UCN could reuse, the railguns and mech being top priority.

"Sir!" Welkans snapped to attention. The CO followed suit.

"At ease." Theo dropped his salute. "What do you want McClellan?"

"What is the situation here, sir?" The CO smiled.

"We decimated those red-eyed bitches. I mean look at this bea-fucking-utiful sight." He waved his hand at all of the splattered carnage covering the large room. "God damn the new toys are fun. I mean I haven't seen them first hand but the aftermath speaks for itself."

"Couldn't agree more, sir. So what are we calling these babies?"

"The railgun is the M62 Phyrrus Fuckers, launches a two foot rod of tungsten at Mach 14, all powered by smuggled petrusite. And these sons of bitches," His motioned to one of the mechs walking out of the atrium, a heavy coating of gore covering it. "These are the Mechanized Assault and Reconnaissance Suit or MARS. Over a foot ceramic and titanium armor protecting an operator armed with four interchangeable weapons platforms. This bitch packs a fuck load of punch."

"Good to here, sir. Now is it possible for me to give one of these babies a spin so I chase after a pack of terrorist?"

"That's a negative. As much as I love ya there are orders out right now to restrict the use of them. We already lost one of them and we only had five to begin with. Hell Overlord only has fifty total."

"Understood, sir. Now do I have permission to hunt down some terrorist fucks?"

"Do what you do best Theo."

"Yes, sir." Theo walked from the atrium, almost slipping on hig juice. His squad was waiting outside door for him.

"What are the orders, sir? Do we have to mop up all these bastards?" Hutch was leaning against a senator's door. Theo grabbed onto his shoulders pushing him against the door.

"We are hunting bomber cunt boys." The men cheered out in joy. Suddenly the door broke open.

"Fuck!" Hutch was sprawled out over the body of some helmetless hig. He quickly got up and prodded his M82 into the Helghast's head.

"Hey red-eye! You alive?" The man started to stir. The black void of his eyes opened, pure hate beaming from the abyss towards the UCN security force. He started to reach for a nearby shotgun. "No, no, we can't have you doing that here." The man reached for his knife, having considerable problems unstrapping it. Hutch shot the arm as he made a weak slash at him, rendering the man's right arm useless. The man didn't even scream out, the hatred in his eyes only intensifying.

"Hey Hutch, what's his rank? Try not to kill him if he is a major or something important." The hig turned his head slowly and backed up towards the desk of some senator, the owner still occupying it. The moving arms gave Hutch a good look at his rank.

"Sergeant, sir. So can I play with him?" The hig's leg left a nice streak of fresh crimson, adding to the darker pools already on the marble floors.

"Have at it." Hutch bent over to his eye level, taking off his helmet.

"Where do you think you are going you little bitch? Think you can run away from us?" Hutch's squad mates put down their weapons and helmets and entered the room. They leaned back against the wall so they could enjoy the sight.

The hig slowly turned his head around, looking Hutch straight in the eye. The bleeding man started to laugh. "What is so funny you fucking bitch?" Hutch's head was instantly turned to a spray of red, turning a plaque behind him crimson.

"Shit!" The hig turned to Marcus, putting one round in the chest and then one below his right eye, now painting the tapestry. Wilson tried to pick up his rifle but a round to the neck nearly severed his head, the gooey yellow strand that is his spinal cord the only thing holding keeping his head from hitting the floor as he slid down the wall. The hig turned the .357 to Theo. _Click! _Theo snorted and casually bent over to pick up his rifle. He walked over to the hig, the gun lay to his left side, smoke still leaking from the barrel. The hig didn't change his looks at all. There was no fear in his eye, only hatred. Theo looked deeper into the pitch black abyss. Somewhere deep beneath all the hatred was sorrow. Theo raised his rifle and wiped the black abyss from the planet with the exercise of three muscles.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Zoey was disgusted by Zorta's lack of respect for Skorzeny. "Why the fuck are we retreating? We have the ISA by the fucking short hairs!" He had been complaining about Skorzeny's orders to retreat since they left the UCN's CO's bar.

"Have some fucking respect!" Zoey had to resist slapping the man insulting the man who was basically her adopter father. "And this is starting to become way over just fucking annoying!" Skorzeny just chuckled at the exchange.

"Zoey, dear, calm down, Mister Zorta has his rights. I mean he is a real Helghast unlike us lowly Vektans. To address your concerns Zorta, we are falling back and abandoning the whole city because, one, we have run into new advanced weapons and we don't want to get ourselves into a fight we can't win and, two, the invading taskforce has ran into some of its own issues and decided that it would be easier to simply wipe the city off the map rather than dropping off soldiers there."

"But why! We could take out of these bastards!"

"Isn't that the attitude that got you guys into a fix in the first place? ... And the second time. Why else would you be using us Legion to help you? Well beside the fact we are the direct descendants of the original Helghast founders." Zorta stopped talking and beamed pure hatred at the insurgent leader. Under his breath Skorzeny sighed and muttered. "Sometimes I regret letting my sis go with you guys but you have to do anything for the cause." Snake simply shook his head and continued smoking.

Leaving the infuriating argument, Zoey continued to watch from outside the guard house as massive amount of Helghast forces and insurgent streamed into the small building. So far the amount of ISA pursuing has been minimal and luckily there have been no sight of the new UCN weapons. From what the disgraced remnants of the failed taskforce have said they are unkillable machines without mercy or weakness despite the fact that their newest leader is saying her former sergeant was able to kill one. Maybe that is why the taskforce has offered to stay at the building and provide rear security with Zoey's little party of fun. They might be trying to prove that they are not useless. The apparent leader of the small group was a woman with long raven hair that leaked from her helmet and had leather armor who was looking over the herd of soldiers that was quickly thinning. Zoey started to walk over towards her.

_BOOM! _The tail end of the herd suddenly exploded in flame. "Fuck!" Zoey dropped down and trained her pistols on the mini mushroom cloud. As the few surviving Helghast caught in the blast started to rise up, a stream of ISA soldiers spilled into the alley from a street twenty-five yards to the north. Zoey and the rest of the soldiers opened fire. The ISA started to drop but continued to move forwards.

"Everyone fall back double time! Zoey help me cover the retreat." Skorzeny tried to create order. Most of the remaining herd was in the building and the shattered remains of the taskforce were ordered to follow suit. Only their leader stuck behind with Zoey and her adopted squad and father. "Zorta, Snake, move to the east side and lay down fire. You-" he pointed to the last of the taskforce, "move inside the building and make sure that everyone gets out. Zoey follow me." The group moves into action. Zoey vaulted over a dumpster as she followed Skorzeny to the west side. Zoey momentarily crouched behind it, putting down all her mags for her pistols before rising and opening fire. With one pistol she pumped two rounds into a man's chest, his armor saving him but still knocking him down. Its twin was able to hit one in the head, a red mist hung behind his head as he fell forwards. She then turned back to the first man and emptied her clips into his body, blood spurting from a few of the wounds. She started to drop, simultaneously releasing her empty mags. Well Zoey reloaded Skorzeny rose up with a civilian semi-automatic shotgun and unloaded into the crowed. The spent cartilages rained down onto Zoey. Skorzeny switched places with Zoey.

Zoey returned to her the cycle when a loud rumble came from the north. She clipped an ISA in the arm as an ISA AAPC rolled into the alley. Its turret swung towards Snake and Zorta's position as a group of UCN death squad members escaped from the rear hatch. The ISA fell to positions behind the vehicle as the UCN forces moved to its front. Zoey rose up and tried to take out the new enemy. Her pistol rounds simply bounced off of their heavy armor. "Fuck! Skorzeny, what's your plan?"

The scarred redhead smiled as he finished reloading his shotgun. "Just cover me."

"Wha-" Before she could ask Skorzeny lept from behind cover and ran head on towards the AAPC and the entire attacking force. "Fuck! Cover!" Zoey rose up and fired at everything hoping it would cause the enemy to duck long enough so that her leader didn't die. Her yell dragged Zorta and Snake from cover. The turret had left them and was swinging towards Skorzeny. Just as the stream of lead was about to cut him in half a missile streaked from inside the guardhouse, it knocked out the soldier manning the turret along with knocking over some of the UCN. Skorzeny jumped on top of the still smoking AAPC. He raised his shotgun at an unsuspecting ISA soldier going up the porthole to replace his smoked comrade. Skorzeny fired, the burst of pellets splattering the man's head on the charred remains of his friend. As the headless body fell back inside the vehicle Skorzeny followed it up with a shower of lead. The pellets were audible as they ricocheted around the cabin, ripping apart anyone inside. Under a growing amount of enemy fire Skorzeny threw his overcoat down the hatch. He quickly leapt of the vehicle and ran directly towards the dumpster, bullets trying their fucking best to take him out. He dove over the dumpster and rolled in the safety of cover.

"Welcome back, sir." Skorzeny leaned against the dumpster and smiled. He lifted up the button to his explosive vest. With a flick of the switch the AAPC lit up, a small blast filtering through the turret hatch but the majority of the blast channeled out the open rear hatch. The twenty-five pounds of plastic explosive turned the vehicle into the barrel and everything in the cabin into the ammo of a giant shotgun. The blast took out a majority of ISA in cover behind it. All that was left was eight UCN soldiers.

The taskforce leader hollered out of the shack. "Oye, hurry up. We are clear in here!" Skorzeny spun his hand in the air, signaling the remaining Zoey and company to fall back. The UCN made it very difficult. Most were armed with light machine guns and unrelentingly sprayed them with fire. One charged Zoey's position as Skorzeny ran for the building. The retreating leader caused the UCN to shift his focus. He stopped his assault on Zoey and fired on the officer, two rounds hitting his in the leg.

"No you don't you fucker!" Seeing the injury Zoey leapt from cover with her sawed-off shotgun. The soldier barely noticed as she ran and pressed the end of both barrel to the all-encompassing helmet. She fired both barrels at once. It blew a small hole in one side of the helmet. The encased helmet had caused force to turn his entire head into a slushy of blood and gore. It violently poured out onto her weapon and body. "Ah! Fucking disgusting!" Zoey spat out a mouth full of the bad tasting fluid Zoey turned and ran to the shack, seeing that Skorzeny had made it inside. Snake started to run with Zorta. A burst of rounds hit him in the chest. He fell. Zorta started to lift him up under a hail of fire. Snake was spitting out blood as Zorta tried to carry him the final ten yards. Just as he made it to the door two more bullets hit Snake in the chest. Snake vomited blood before slumping over in Zorta's arms, crimson droplets dripping from his mouth. His cigarette fell from his mouth and landed in the pool of crimson, sizzling on contact before slowly fizzing out.

"Fuck!" Zorta carefully put down the body. Skorzeny was leaning against a makeshift crutch. The taskforce leader was looking at his injuries, a discarded missile launcher at her feet. The wounds looked mildly serious but nothing he hasn't lived through before.

"Time to fall back. So who wants to be the one tocover our retreat for about five minutes? That will give us enough time for a decent head start." Zorta and Zoey raised their hands at once. "Well… Rock paper, scissors?" Zoey and Zorta shrugged. They got into position and started.

"Rock, paper, scissors, sho-" Before they could finish Zoey hit Zorta over the head with her shotgun, knocking him out cold. Skorzeny shrugged as he started to go down the steps. The taskforce leader dragged Zorta after him. "Until next time, sir!" Zoey took a bow at the retreating soldiers. Turning from her route of safety, Zoey checked to see if her weapon was loaded before looking out the door. The seven remaining UCN soldiers were slowly approaching the building. _'If only I had one of their suits. I'd just walk up to them and BOOM!' _Zoey leaned into the open doorway and unleashed her shotgun on the nearest soldier. The rounds hit him in the unprotected legs, ripping out a massive chunk of flesh. He fell to his side and quickly bled out. Zoey returned behind cover and broke the break of her shotgun, two smoking rounds shot past her face. Enemy rounds plastered the building, the occasional bullet piercing the wall. She tried to push in two new cartilages. Her shaking hands made it very difficult. She snapped the barrel shut and sat down next to the door way to the stairs. Her shotgun in hand, Zoey prepared to face the enemy again. She looked down to make sure her pistols were still in their holster and loaded. _'I need to give them more time.' _She could hear the soldier lining up along the doorway ready to breach. She sighed, the shotgun trembling. _'Just another minute.' _

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As the senior officer, Theo stood outside the small building as five UCN soldiers breached the doorway. For just five or so higs guarding the place they sure did a number on them. They took out twenty ISA soldiers, four UCN Security members and an AAPC. However their time was running out. At least one was down and their resistance to the assaulting force had dropped rapidly. _'Lasted longer than I expected.'_

From inside the building two low booms filtered out, followed by a low bloody scream. _'Minus one UCN.' _There was a sudden roar of M82 fire in the building along with random orders. They died down, followed by a series of sharp cracks. He figured it to be from a pistol. _'Well the bomber bitch is still alive.' _The cycle of M82 fire and pistol shots continued. Theo took this time to look up in the night sky. Something up there looked very, very, wrong.

Up in the sky was hundreds of small lights slowly moving around. They seemed to be surrounding a much brighter light. "Now what the fuck can that be?" Suddenly some of the smaller lights flashed and disappeared from sight. In exchange green lights appeared around the brighter light. The abnormal activity continued until about two dozen little lights disappeared and the bigger one was completely engulfed in green. As the green shroud faded nothing was left. It dawned on Theo.

"Fuck! Please tell me that wasn't Overlord." The empty space around him didn't answer except for the occasional gunshot. Theo continued to watch as the swarm of smaller dots grew in size slowly and seemed to move almost directly overhead. As small lights escaped from the larger ones Theo was thrown to the ground.

Facedown he could hear small chunks of metal and brick rain down on his armor. Theo slowly got up. Looking forward he saw what had happened. In front of him the guard house was decimated. Most of the north-east corner was missing and the roof was sagging in the middle. He rose completely up, brushing off dust and debris. His gloved hand brushed into something solid. Looking down he saw a razorblade stuck almost an inch in the shoulder piece of his armor. A chuckle formed deep in his throat. It soon morphed into a full on laugh.

"She actually did it! I can't fucking believe it!" Theo went ahead and took off his helmet and walked into the shattered shack. Inside the bodies of UCN soldier lay scattered. The blast itself had probably killed them and in most cases tore off a limb. One was laying there, his arms reduced to a bony stump and the legs just sinew. If the blast didn't do the job her hundreds of razorblades finished it. A soldier whose name was evidently Marco was sprawled out on his side. Four small slits were cut into the face of his helmet, little streams of crimson slowly flowing into the open. Walking his way past the carnage, Theo located a stairway down. It appeared to be where the blast originated from. He carefully went down the concrete steps. They were scarcely affected by the blast. Halfway down he found bloodied bones and tendons, blown fleshless and smashed into a very small crimson bundle. Theo bent down to inspect it. The bloody mass had little bits of cloth fiber and a few long strands of hair mixed in. He began to poke it with a large splinter of wood. He quickly found a couple dozen razors dug deep into some of the bones, most of which he identified being from the torso.

"Goodbye Miss Bomber." Theo got up from the bloody mess and walked down the rest of the stairs. Greeting him at the bottom was a large blast door that had been cut open. Theo slowly walked inside. It was dark, hot, humid, and had the most horrible stench known to man or any of his repulsive sub-species. He flipped on the light of his M82 and slowly walked inside. His was walking in an inch of what he really hoped was water. The sound of his splashing echoed down the tunnel. Theo started to miss his helmet right now. His solo stream of illumination bounced of the water's surface, a rippled reflection lighting up the ceiling.

As Theo walked further into the labyrinth, there was a splash behind him. He swung his rifle and fired. Four giant splashes erupted from the water. The gun's report was amazingly loud in the tunnel, his ears screamed in pain. As the ringing subsided, the shots still echoed. He slowly walked to the spot he shot, ready to fire again. Floating on top of the water was the mingled corpse of a big-ass rodent. "Sorry little buddy, I meant to shoot a larger varmin-" Theo's world turned black.

*Some time a little later*

Theo slowly opened his eyes. He was staring at an aging concrete wall covered in dark stains. Then the pain hit him. His head erupted in a pulsating from a spot on its back. He tried to rub the aching spot but his arms wouldn't move. He looked down to see that he was tied up in a metal chair. To the left of his feet was a bucket of water. He looked around. Stuck in his arm was an IV that led up to a bag of fluids. The room was very small and the walls covered in splattered dark stains.

"What the fuck is happening!" The UCN investigator pulled at his bindings. The ropes strained but held. "Let me out you fucking bastards!" Theo was starting to hyperventilate. Just as the man was about to go into a panic a door behind him screeched open. He could hear light footsteps slowly approaching him as the door slammed shut. "Who the fuck are you!" There was silence, the steps seemed to end right behind him. "Tell me damn it!"

A calm, feminine voice answered. "Do you know where you are Mister McClellan?"

"Who the fuck are you?" The voice calmly continued.

"You happen to be secured in one of the millions of rooms located beneath on of the hundreds of cities on Vekta."

"I don't care you fucking cunt! Just tell me who you are!" The women grabbed onto his shoulders. He could feel her armored breast push onto the back of his head as she leaned forward. Above he saw a woman with long raven hair, its locks hanging down on Theo's sweating face. The bitch's mouth was obscured with a mask cover in a skeletal smile. What struck him the most was her eyes. They were a deep crimson that seemingly swirled towards the dark hollow abyss that all the Helghast had.

"Let me go you fucking Helghast cunt!"

Unflustered by his remarks she pulled down her mask. Theo then stared at a sinister smile that was covered in scars from every sort of weapon imaginable.

"You will never escape from here Mister McClellan. You will never be found. As far as your CO knows you were killed in a large blast." She started to walk in front of the bound man. "You will simply rot down here for days before you finally die."

The realities of the issue at hand started to settle in. He was going to be here for about five days with the IV before his body started to systematically shut down. The eyes continued to pierce into him. He had to look from the head and began to look at her uniform. On her arm he saw something that looked familiar. It was the same insignia as the one he saw on the arm sergeant that killed his squad. He found way out of a slow death. _'It is worth a shot at least.'_

The Helghast woman started to walk of the room. Theo calmly spoke. "Hey lady, I want to tell you something." Her footsteps stopped behind him. They quickly came closer and she strolled in front of him.

"What do you want?" Theo grinned, it might have taken her of balance but her face didn't show it.

"I executed your sergeant, a Welkans I believe. Found him cowering in a pile of his own waste. I shot him after he begged me for hours to do so. You should have seen all of the tears. It was a pretty pathetic sight."

The woman surprisingly held her complexion. For a moment Theo thought he might not have guessed wrong.

"Well Mister McClellan that might have just changed your situation." The voice was still calm but had a hint of repressed ire. Theo waited for her to pull out a pistol and shoot him. It didn't happen. "I really didn't intend on treating you this poorly, sir but I do have certain obligations." Instead of reaching for a gun she pulled out a small metal case. Pulling down her mask at the same time, she set it down on a metal table near the rack that held his IV. She flipped open two latches and slowly opened up the case. A large amount of blue light emitted from the open case. Its lid blocked Theo's sight of what it was. She picked up something and lifted it up in the air, a portion of the light following. In her hand was a syringe full of luminescent blue fluid.

"Petrusite is such a beautiful material isn't it? I am pretty lucky that Skorzeny gave me some before I went to hunt you down." She set down the syringe and walked over to Theo. She bent down at his feet. She lifted them up slightly and slid the bucket underneath. She then lowered the feet into the tub of water. She stood up and returned to the table. Before picking up the needle she hooked up a secondary IV full of fluid.

"We don't want you to die too soon do we?" She then picked up the needle and pointed it in the air. She gently tapped it like a nurse and squirted a small droplet. The small drop fell to the floor and caused a large flash of electricity. A grin spread across her face. She started to stick the needle into his arm, the sharp point slowly inserting itself into the body with no issue. She did not push in the plunger yet. Instead she started to talk peacefully.

"Petrusite in the bloodstream has a most interesting effect, Mister McClellan. Once circulating it will stimulate every single nerve in the human body, creating pain throughout the body in, perhaps, the single most excruciating thing that could happen to a person. The pain will never dull, every second of the rest of your life will seem like the worst pain you have ever felt. It will never stop. You will never blackout. It will not kill you. Interesting I know. The internal shock seems to leave vital process like breathing, circulation, and brain function alone well paralyzing everything else. So the pain will continue till your little heart gives out and your brain dies. Which with all the wonderful fluid I have supplying you, should be close to a full week." She slowly pushed in the plunger. Theo's veins started to glow as a horrendous pain slowly spread through his arm. She then closed up the case and walked out of the room.

"It has been a pleasure Mister McClellan. I hope you enjoy your last few days." The door slowly slammed shut, a lock clicking after words. He screamed till his throat started to bleed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N: Hey! The chapter is finally done! Sorry if it seemed slightly long and all but I wanted to get this done and out of the away so I can return to the original characters and proper fighting. I am also sorry about the huge delay with this. I wrote the first bits of it right after the first chapter but then I [insert excuse] I didn't really start up on this until the last week here. Let me tell you, writing it was a total bitch but rather enjoyable. So would you kindly enjoy and review this giant mass of text (it is roughly 12.5 thousand long not counting notes and twenty-three pages long.)

As for the future chapters, expect it to manly revolve around the original with only the occasional trip to Stahl or one of the other planets. I have also decided not to include any more perspectives from the UCN or ISA. When it will come out I have no fucking clue. I wanted to actually plan out what would happen as I have discovered that if you don't it can become difficult. I also wanted to pursue other stories. Mainly an inFamous 2 story I have been planning along with a crossover I am trying to polish up right now.

Anyways please review and look out for my future crap.

Sir Robert the VI, Ph.D.


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